Back to Regional e-Newsletter ECE H1 2010

Update on SITA's Horizon portfolio

We recently had a chance to sit down with Michael Cunningham, Director Passenger Solutions, to get an update on SITA's Horizon portfolio. Here's an excerpt of our discussion.

Can you remind us of the background on Horizon?

SITA's Horizon passenger management solutions include reservations, inventory, departure controls, fares, e-commerce, and web & kiosk check in -- basically all systems required for passenger processing. SITA's passenger processing systems have been in place for 35 years, but about five years ago, we began migrating applications from the old mainframe technology and introducing new features and functionality. We have completed the migration of our fares portfolio to open systems with great success. We are unique in the industry in that we are the only provider that has the complete end to end solution for fares - from competitive analysis, to proposal management, fares distribution, and pricing and shopping.

We are now half way through a US $100 million investment as part of a five year program to decommission the remaining legacy systems. This investment is in addition to the ongoing development of the Horizon portfolio. We're introducing new functionality in several waves, and some customers are already using modules from the new technology.

What are some of the programme milestones to date?

There are many. For example, the graphical user interface (GUI), which call centres and ticket offices use to access the system, is now much more user friendly, requiring less staff training. We are in the process of broadening our ancillary revenue capability for online bookings, which will enable airlines to offer cars, hotels, insurance and other services -- just as Internet-based travel services such as Expedia do.

What about latest technologies and customization options for the airlines?

The best example I can give here is flymas.mobi: a new mobile portfolio that enables passengers to book and manage their flights from almost any mobile phone. For example, passengers can make booking, manage bookings, check-in, check their flight status, access timetables, and trace missing baggage. We have developed this for Malaysian Airlines, and will soon be making the same types of services available to any of our airline customers.
Visit flymas.mobi.

Can you tell us about the success of the Marketplace Air deployment and the main benefits for customers?

Marketplace Air enables an airline agent to access other airlines' inventory and availability, so they can sell the seats and retain the associated commission. This is a revenue-generating service that has been in place for about two years now benefiting several airlines from Eastern Europe and Russia (including some early adopters like S7 Sibir, Air Moldova, Ukraine International Airlines, Carpatair, etc..). We currently have 11 customers using the service.

SITA recently launched Horizon FrequentFlyer, can you explain how flexible this service is?

Horizon FrequentFlyer is a new service -- available now, -- which offers an airline's frequent flyer customers web access to their profiles, balances, and other information. It can be set up for any kind of frequent flyer programme, whether it's based on miles or points, and it is fully integrated with rest of the SITA passenger services portfolio. Because it's based on an application service provider model, airlines don't need to install software and servers.

What's coming up? What other functionality can we expect to see in the near future?

We have already replaced the mainframe-based PNR (Passenger Name Record) system with a next generation 'Customer Journey', operating on a new open system.
We are now finalising a new wave of functionality including a new customer profile that will interoperate with our frequent flyer application; an automated ticket reprice and refund capability; a new weight and balance system and a new standard payment solution, which will route transactions to the cheapest provider and be able to handle forms of payment ranging from Internet banking to PayPal.

What is the long-term vision for Horizon?

We are focussed on completing the move to open systems and incremental development of the Horizon portfolio, and in doing so offering a radically improved solution for airlines with highly innovative functionalities for increased competitiveness.

While our aim is to be the leading provider to airline tiers 2 and 3, the investment we are making in passenger management will ensure that we are delivering the appropriate level of functionality for a sophisticated airline to maximize profitability regardless of its tier size.

Our solutions are helping airlines with their priorities - such as reducing distribution costs, managing the complexity of fares and taking advantage of customer self service opportunities. We're investing in cost-effective solutions that are aligned with industry priorities, and we're already seeing great success in winning new customers.