A MAGAZINE FOR AIRLINE EXECUTIVES 2011 Issue No. 1

Taking your airline to new heights

SkyTeam: Caring More About You A Conversation With É Leo van Wijk, Chairman, SkyTeam Pg. 10

18 Strategic commercial planning 46 Avianca-TACA merger changed Latin 63 Merchandising through GDS gives airlines increases airline revenues America aviation additional storefront

© 2011 Sabre Inc. All rights reserved. [email protected] ASCEND I COMPANY Photo: Boeing

Technology such as Sabre® Qik® Solution enables airlines and other travel-related companies to paint the illusion that successful customer service — and profitable, efficient operations — are as natural as a smile. Photos: Shutterstock

69 ascend ASCEND I SOLUTIONS

ll the things you probably hate about travelling — the recycled air, the artificial lighting, the digital juice dispensers, the cheap sushi — are warm remind- “Aers that I’m home,” said Ryan Bingham, a modern road warrior portrayed by George Clooney in the 2009 blockbuster hit movie “Up In The Air.” “Up in the Air” offers a fictional view of modern-day air travel, portraying carriers as powerful, on-time machines with: Smiling gate agents, Pleasant first-class attributes, Slick technology. The ideal does exist, although real road warriors would say it doesn’t exist every day. But as more and more carriers and trav- el-related companies invest in the “slick” technology it takes to deliver consistently on the promise of on-time arrivals, smiling gate agents and a pleasant travel experience, fiction comes closer to reality. Importantly, the technology also reduces costs and increases revenue. Reduces Time And Costs The Developer Tool significantly decreases processing time with fewer errors as well as reduces time and telephony costs. A “Qik” Solution To Complex Processes Today, more than ever , companies in the travel companies worldwide for call center/ & Service user interface for reservations cen- travel industry are seeking to simplify opera- reservations, ticketing, check-in, ramp/ ters and airports. tions to reduce costs and remain competitive. weight and balance and many other business Because the solution is customizable, the They do so while striving to increase revenue functions. benefits vary by company. However, all would and maintain high-quality customer service. In fact, it is the tool used to create the agree the technology is a profit enhancer when In a business environment that demands Interact interface, the highly configurable, it comes to productivity, training costs and change, frontline personnel must have imme- workflow-driven SabreSonic ® Customer Sales overall cost reduction. diate access to the right information to win and keep a customer’s business. In addition, the need to reduce costs — especially through reductions in data entry and process errors — is imperative. However , as new initiatives are put in place to achieve these goals, companies face the challenge of readily accessing data that snakes across multiple databases, operating systems and platforms. Automated offline processes are necessary for a company to increase sales and revenue, improve operational efficiency , cut costs, and raise customer service levels. That’s why many airlines turn to the Sabre Qik Solution. The solution offers a combination of latest technology and process, application development, and interface design consult- ing. This enables companies to create and deploy effective applications. The combination facilitates better customer service and meets specific business needs at the lowest possible lifetime cost.

Qik Benefits The Sabre Qik Solution is widely con- sidered the industry pacesetter for the creation of intelligent user interfaces. It includes software and a variety of profes- Airport Application The tabs in the runtime screen provide easy access to basic airport functions sional services preferred by more than 300 such as check-in, seating and boarding.

70 ascend ASCEND I SOLUTIONS

Enhanced Job And Customer Satisfaction By doing away with long data entry formats and streamlining job functions, the Qik Solution eliminates the need to gather relevant data from multiple data sources and applications. The solu- tion instantly pulls together the information. This enables employees to serve customers better, faster and with fewer mistakes — increasing the number of satisfied customers.

A “Qik” Tour The Qik Solution offers components that complete the end-to-end business management technology solution.

Developer Tool The Developer Tool, a component of the Sabre Qik Solution , enables companies to more cost- effectively integrate data and systems into their intelligent user interface. As a result, the right Airline Availability Display The tabs in a reservations application provide easy access to basic reservations functions such as selling air, car or hotel segments, pricing the itinerary or adding information is accessible to the right customer - passenger details. facing employees at the right time via a flexible technical platform. Increased Productivity providing customer service. By delivering The Developer T ool is used by Sabre’s own By integrating specific business process- graphical user interface front ends, or intel- development teams, airlines, call centers, tour and es and rules into the Qik applications, users ligent user interfaces, that are easier to travel agencies, government entities and other are presented with decisions based on their use than traditional host systems, the Qik travel-related companies around the world. It sup- company’s specific business rules. The Qik Solution significantly reduces training time ports two scripting languages, a variety of graphics Solution: and increases productivity. Instead of memo- formats and a fully graphical screen painter . The Simplifies complex procedures, rizing system commands, users can focus on flexible, powerful tool enables developers to quickly Eliminates the need for users to consult customers. create graphically rich applications specific to the job aids, In addition, when data from multiple sys- travel and transport industries. Reduces error frequencies, tems is required, the solution seamlessly Users report the tool’ s intuitive user interface Automates multi-step processes. integrates the data. This eliminates the need framework and the option for developing interfaces The solution facilitates the integration of for users to switch among systems by for automated repetitive tasks have significantly Internet and intranet content into business using multiple access procedures. According reduced processing time with fewer errors. It has processes by presenting a single, focused to airlines that have recently implemented also reduced time and telephony costs. user interface. The end results are increased the system, its use has reduced new- productivity, improved accuracy and higher hire training by as much as 50 percent Peripheral Manager/Multitask Manager sales conversion rates. while increasing employee productivity. Peripheral Manager, another component of When British Airways needed to increase the Sabre Qik Solution , allows for effective com- productivity and customize how ramp and Reduced Costs munication with airline backend systems. It also airport agents work, it looked to the Sabre Sabre Qik Solution performs local error supports interaction with the many and varied Qik Solution to deliver the right informa- checking, retains host reservations informa- physical devices required to run airline back office, tion to its agents at the best time to serve tion and combines host transactions, all airport, reservations, and other locations. Printers, customers. significantly reducing host communication scanners, card swipes and gate-boarding devices “The Sabre Qik Solution met important costs. Customers that use the suite of tools can be incorporated into a company’ s end-user needs as we moved our current customer report seeing a return on investment in as solution using Peripheral Manager. systems forward, and is an integral part of little as three months. To round out the software suite, Multitask our service-oriented architecture and multi- Manager, another component of the solution, channel strategy,” said Mike Croucher, head Expanded Sales Solicitations allows for sophisticated control and management of IT architecture and delivery for British The Qik Solution lets companies create of “robotic” applications created using the Qik Airways. “What we like best about the applications that provide easy access to data Solution. Robotic applications automate manual solution is that it’s a truly innovative tool and present the data at the appropriate time tasks and free up employees, thus increasing that is completely configurable and simple to during the user’ s workflow . This enhances efficiency and accuracy while saving labor costs. use. We can customize how agents work by the effectiveness of sales personnel by Multitask Manager gave Travelocity® the delivering the information they need most at improving information accessibility and pro- ability to create its own solution where- the right time to best serve our customers.” viding more up-sell opportunities. by 98 percent of bookings are ticketed In addition, sales prompts are used to automatically. Reduced Training Costs assist frontline employees in closing the “The Qik Solution is the life blood of our Training users to operate complex sale. Finally , the applications eliminate the mid-office system,” said Rob Mabry , senior native host systems is both labor and time need to memorize or search for seldom-used manager for Travelocity. “Every booking intensive. As a result, users focus more transactions, such as those required for car made on our website is routed through on how to operate the system than on hire and hotel booking. our Sabre Qik applications running on the

ascend 71 ASCEND I SOLUTIONS

Multitask Manager system. Of those, 98 reservations and departure control systems Southwest Airlines called on Sabre Qik percent are ticketed by robotics and never ‘agnostic,’” said Ellen Ehrlich, senior vice Solution when it wanted to rapidly enable Web require human intervention. president of SabreSonic Customer Sales & service and redesign the look and feel of its “We also have more than 2,500 users in call Service for Sabre Airline Solutions . “So not existing application. centers around the globe managing customer only do our SabreSonic airlines derive great “The Sabre Qik Solution enabled us to contacts with customized versions of Turbo value in the Qik Solution such as the Interact rapidly move forward technologically by tran- Sabre® desktop application and other Sabre interface they use in reservations and airports, sitioning from legacy formats to services,” Qik tools. These applications support both the but non- SabreSonic carriers globally can also said Southwest Airlines. “Our new intelligent Travelocity leisure business and its corporate see similar benefits regardless of what reser - interface is more visually appealing. But more brand, Travelocity Business ®. It’s an incredibly vations or departure control system they use. importantly, it allows our staff to be more pro- flexible application development environment This also gives the extra benefit of a unique ductive. This new application has positioned that has allowed us to support a dynamic busi- and very strong Qik Solution user community customer service and support for the future.” ness with more than a million tickets a month comprising not only SabreSonic airlines but As seamless as it looks, the “Up In The Air” with a small team of developers.” other airlines and affiliated companies world- experience is a fine-tuned symphony of tech- wide using virtually any reservations, DCS, nological triumphs performed from the Consulting Services frequent flyer or other back-end solution from moment a ticket is booked until a bag is deliv- The Developer Tool, combined with Sabre Airline Solutions or other vendors.” ered. And that’s what Ryan Bingham and the power and flexibility of Sabre® Qik® countless other travelers are counting on. So Professional Services, provides a complete Custom Solutions Delivered too, are the thousands of airline industry pro- solution with rapid returns. This transcends The scope of a solution using the Qik fessionals who depend on loyal, repeat a typical technology solution with an off-the- Solution and the Developer Tool crosses customers for their survival. a shelf application development environment. a broad range of functionality and deliv- Incorporating industrial engineering and busi- ers unique benefits to each company . For ness processing expertise allows efficient example, company “A” may use a Qik solutions designed to meet the unique needs solution that completes a single automated of many diverse customers. task, such as a quality control check before The solution is backed by technical exper- ticketing. tise of architects and developers. This ensures Company “B” may utilize a Qik solu- that it remains ahead of customer and travel tion for its call center interface that industry needs. Customers enjoy 24-hour and incorporates computer telephony integra- 365-day online and telephone support for their tion functionality, access to multiple CRSs development teams as well as various com- and a productivity-focused workflow. munity offerings to interact with fellow Sabre Company “C” may use a Qik solution as a Qik Solution users. CRM enabler to pull information from multiple Paul Feheley is a principal of the “One of the key differentiators for our data sources, access multiple host systems, Sabre Qik Solution for Sabre Airline Sabre Qik Solution is the fact that it’ s been use automated tasks, interact with third-party Solutions. He can be contacted engineered from the ground up to be applications and integrate Web content. at [email protected].

+count it up

2020 3.5 liters 8 The year by which industry research The amount per 100 passenger The percentage by which the programs aim to achieve a further 50 kilometers modern aircraft achieve in fuel European Union is committed to

percent fuel and CO 2 savings and an efficiencies, according to enviro.aero. reducing its emissions from 1990 80 percent reduction in oxides The next-generation aircraft (Airbus A380 levels by 2012 under the Kyoto of nitrogen (NOx), according to and Boeing 787) use less than 3 liters of protocol. The E.U.’s emissions trading enviro.aero. fuel per 100 passenger kilometers (78 scheme is Europe’s principle passenger miles per U.S. gallon), mechanism to achieve its Kyoto exceeding the efficiency of any modern targets. compact car on the market.

72 ascend