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Star Alliance Selects Amadeus To Build Common IT Platform
ET&T Staff- Mumbai
Star Alliance, the airline network for Earth™, together
with member carriers Lufthansa and United is creating a next generation technology
platform for passenger service systems in the airline industry. For this, the
parties have jointly selected Amadeus to build a common IT Platform for the
alliance. This deal will see Lufthansa and United replace their own legacy IT
systems, with expansion to other members being planned. Commenting on the decision,
Jaan Albrecht, Star Alliance CEO said: “The Star Alliance
Common IT Platform represents the realisation of a long time strategic goal,
driven by the effort to better serve the customer, significantly lower IT costs
and dramatically increase the speed of delivering new products to market.”
On behalf of Amadeus, José Antonio Tazón, President and
CEO, said: “We are proud to have been chosen above some of the
world’s most prestigious IT providers. This announcement underlines the
unique value offered by our Altéa suite of IT solutions for airlines
and alliances in today’s competitive environment.”
Lufthansa and United will replace their current legacy systems with one technology
platform based on industry leading products and state of the art technology.
The new system has been developed to better meet the customer demands in today’s
changing market environment, while at the same time permitting the member carriers
to substantially reduce costs.
“The new Common IT platform is an important step forward
for passengers, the Star Alliance and Lufthansa: we can now offer our customers
an even better service from reservation to check-in”, commented Wolfgang
Mayrhuber, chairman of the Executive Board and CEO, Deutsche Lufthansa AG
. The project is also testimony to the more intensive co-operation within Star
Alliance, proving that we are not solely a sales and marketing alliance, but
more importantly an alliance for the customer which makes seamless travel a
reality”, he added.
While the carriers’ current IT systems all use different
technologies, the new platform is based on a common technical infrastructure
and software. The heart of the new system offers enhanced customer service functionalities,
specifically for both sales and airport environments, and includes such transactions
as schedule, availability, inventory, reservations, fare quote and ticketing
as well as passenger check-in. The improvement in customer service will come
through ease of use as well as through common and better quality of data which
the airline service agents will be able to access when dealing with alliance
customers. “The Star Alliance Common IT platform will help provide what
customers want: ease and convenience,” said Glenn Tilton, president,
chairman and chief executive officer of United.
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Ankur Bhatia |
Jetstar Asia, Singapore’s value for money airline
announced the appointment of Bird Travels Ltd, the airline distribution
arm of The Bird Group, as its General Sales Agent (GSA) for India. Bird
Travels will be responsible for the management of Jetstar Asia’s
sales and marketing operations in India.
Announcing the appointment Ken Ryan, CEO
Jetstar Asia said, “The long-standing reputation of Bird
Group as a leading brand in the Indian travel & tourism industry made
it an obvious choice for this appointment. We look forward to a successful
business association with them.” Elaborating on the partnership Ankur
Bhatia, executive director, The Bird Group said, “The advent
of low-cost carriers has redefined air travel today and these are definitely
exciting times to operate in this space. We are particularly eager to
take on this appointment and are confident that with Jetstar Asia the
Indian traveller will now have an affordable and value-for-money option
for flying to Singapore and other South East Asian countries.”
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