A fresh approach is required. The industry needs to collaborate rather than duplicate to bring simplicity to airline operations. The five IATA 'Simplifying the Business' initiatives represent a significant step in the right direction and will deliver benefits to both the airlines and the traveling public.
These initiatives are:
- 100% implementation of e-ticketing worldwide by mid-2008
- Implementation of Common Use Self Service (CUSS) kiosks worldwide
- Bar code standard for boarding passes
- Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) for baggage management
- Paperless cargo environment
Working with the industry
SITA is working with the industry on each of the initiatives and is helping the airline community achieve their full potential by also enabling the adoption of IP-based networks. Extending services into the Internet domain will buy airlines greater cost savings while also eliminating some of the complexity associated with legacy systems.
Savings of $3 billion a year
IATA estimates this is the benefit of implementing e-ticketing throughout the industry. SITA is making this happen for all airlines in every part of the world with SITA Smart Ticket. enabling airlines to issue and use e-tickets across all sales channels and itinerary types.
Productivity improvements
The benefits of self-service check-in for both the passenger and airline are well recognized which has led to increased kiosk usage worldwide. This has brought the challenge of deployment in increasingly space-restricted airports. SITA has worked with IATA and the community to develop the simple and flexible community CUSS standard and AirportConnect Kiosk is being adopted in major airports throughout the world.
Cost savings and easier check-in
The motivation to change from magnetic strips on boarding cards to bar codes is largely being driven by cost. IATA figures show potential savings to be:
- 50-60% reduction in paper costs
- 40% reduction in equipment replacement costs
Bar coded boarding passes will also simplify the travel experience by giving passengers more technology options to obtain their passes.
Increasing satisfaction
Mishandled baggage at most airlines is costly both financially and in terms of customer satisfaction. This is encouraging both airports and airlines to look with increasing interest at making RFID with its much more accurate read rate, the technology of choice for tracking bags. SITA has been working with its industry partners to drive a single community-specific standard.
Embracing IT automation
According to IATA, up to US$1.7 billion could be saved by eliminating paper from the cargo handling process. To reap this level of benefit, the industry will need to replace deeply rooted manual business practices with IT automation. SITA and CHAMP Cargosystems have combined forces to promote deployment of fully interoperable EDI-based solutions to allow business partners to automatically exchange information in a secure, reliable, and cheap manner.