News from Travel Technology Update: IATA filed an application with the US Transportation Dept. for approval of Resolution 787, the agreement that establishes the framework for its New Distribution Capability (NDC).
Middle Eastern carriers continue to make headlines: Emirates has entered into a 10-year global partnership with oneworld alliance member Qantas; Etihad Airways has formed a strategic partnership with SkyTeam member Air France-KLM and oneworld’s Air Berlin; and Qatar Airways is set to become the first major Gulf carrier to enter into one of the three global airline alliances when it becomes a full member of oneworld in about 12-18 months.
Reports on eco-aviation endeavors typically focus on biofuels progress, or the latest strides towards optimized flight management, or give case studies on airline and aircraft recycling initiatives. This overlooks another critical element: people.
For three decades, loyalty programs have been the core of airline customer relationship management (CRM). While they remain a key element, airlines and technology providers are looking beyond frequent flier programs to reach customers in new ways. The mobile channel is enabling airlines to manage customer relationships in real time. Social media are providing airlines with new data about their customers. Other new technologies are breaking down traditional airline “silos” and allowing the integration of systems to make CRM work.
When the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was created in November 2001 in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, few would have predicted the extent to which the new agency would grow. By the end of January 2002, TSA—which started life as a Dept. of Transportation agency, but moved to the newly created Dept. of Homeland Security in early 2003—comprised 13 employees. Today the agency employs approximately 120 federal security directors (FSD), 37,000 full-time and 14,000 part-time security officers. It screens approximately 1.7 million passengers daily at over 450 US airports.
It is no surprise that the final investigation report into the crash of Air France flight 447, an Airbus A330, on June 1, 2009, concluded there were two essential elements: first, the icing and subsequent blockage of the pitot tubes and second, poor pilot management of the situation that took the aircraft out of its flight envelope.
Faced with a fourth consecutive year of a deficit of over $1 trillion and a debt-ceiling crisis, President Barack Obama signed into law the US Budget Control Act in August 2011. But as one crisis was averted, another was about to be created for the US transportation system.
The airline industry’s booming growth in emerging market regions combined with a safety record that far outshines any other transportation mode poses new challenges for those in the training and safety business.
In the worst-ever performance of any regional market in July, India’s domestic air traffic fell 1.1% compared to a year ago, according to IATA’s monthly traffic report. The figures are in sharp contrast to 2010 and early 2011, when the region was among the fastest growing in the world and enjoyed 20%-plus growth rates.
The UK Competition Commission (UKCC) said Monday it would deliver its interim findings on Ryanair’s almost-30% shareholding in Aer Lingus “sometime in May.”
Iberia’s parent company, International Airlines Group (IAG), has accepted a Spanish government-appointed mediator’s compromise proposal to end the bitter industrial strife resulting from major restructuring at the loss-making Spanish flag-carrier.
The CEOs of easyJet, IAG, Ryanair and Virgin Atlantic have jointly lambasted the UK’s aviation taxation policy after it ranked 139th out of 140 countries in a competitiveness study.
It is all about me. That was the clear message from this year’s Air Transport IT Summit in Brussels. “Passengers have an insatiable appetite to have more control, more personalization,” said SITA director, market insight Nigel Pickford. But, to personalize, airlines need to capture and analyze data about individual passengers and their interests. Make no mistakes, this is a Herculean task.
India will replace its Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) with a Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), according to Minister for Civil Aviation Ajit Singh.
Migrations from one passenger services system to another are often described by survivors in surgical terms: the airline equivalent of open-heart surgery, a heart-lung transplant and other occasions involving lots of blood.
Top Republicans in Congress have accused US transportation secretary Ray LaHood and FAA of “resorting to scare tactics” in determining how to comply with mandatory budget cuts.
Athar Husain Khan was promoted to AEA Acting Secretary General in June. He joined AEA in 2007 as general manager, infrastructure, following seven years in management roles at KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. At AEA he has overseen progress on key dossiers, including the association’s competitiveness agenda, aviation’s inclusion in the European Union emissions trading scheme and progress towards the Single European Sky. He spoke with ATW European correspondent Alan Dron during the Farnborough Airshow in the UK in July.
A new winter storm in the US—from the Midwest and up the Northeast Coast—has disrupted travel and canceled more than 2,000 flights Tuesday and Wednesday.
US mandatory budget cuts could lead to a doubling of the time it takes for people to clear customs and immigration at major US airports, the head of the US Department of Homeland Security has warned.
