1. Aerospace

2. Building an Airliner

3. Databases Airliner uses well over a million parts Databases:
Bill of materials
Construction instructions, CAD, CADCAM
Customer details
Supplier details
Test Flight details
Maintenance details
Spares holdings

4. Logistics

5. Worldwide Airline Ticketing systems
Thanks to: Jason Few
Natalie Dolphin
Jamie Beer
Phillip Rainbow
Daniel Hunter
Ana Hadjimitova

6. Intro
Airline Reservations System (ARS) – one of earliest changes to improve efficiency.
Eventually became Computer Reservations System (CRS).
Used for reservations of airline and interfaces with a Global Distribution System (GDS).
GDS assists travel agencies and other distributors in making reservations for the majority of airlines in a single system.
The Airline Reservations System (ARS) was one of the earliest changes to improve efficiency. ARS eventually evolved into the Computer Reservations System(CRS). A Computer Reservation System is used for the reservations of a particular airline and interfaces with a Global Distribution System(GDS) which supports travel agencies and other distribution channels in making reservations for most major airlines in a single system.

7. Looking back at Computer Reservation Systems part 1
HISTORY
Looking back at Computer Reservation Systems part 1
1946 – American Airlines successfully installed the first automated booking system.
The magnetic Reservisor soon followed which was based on the magnetic drum.
This system was then used in several airlines, Sheraton Hotels and Good Year for inventory.
There were numerous problems though mainly due to the high level of human operators needed to maintain the system.
The magnetic drum was a data storage device, this was a early form of computer memory used in 1950’s and 1960’s
There were no way for agents to directly query the system

8. Looking back at Computer Reservation Systems part 2
HISTORY
Looking back at Computer Reservation Systems part 2
1953 – American Airlines worked with IBM on improving their Reservisor system.
This led to many low level studies being carried out
1959 – Semi- Automatic Business Research Environment was launched (SABRE) this was a computer reservation system.
1964 – SABRE was completed, this made it the largest civil data processing system in the world. It is now used by airlines, railways, hotels and other travel companies
Data processing – converts data into useable and understandable data

9. SABRE 1960

11. Looking back at Computer Reservation Systems part 3
HISTORY
Looking back at Computer Reservation Systems part 3
Other airlines soon followed with their own systems
1968 – Delta Air Lines launched the Delta Automated Travel Account System (DATAS)
1971 – United Airlines and Trans World Airlines followed with the Apollo Reservation System and the Programmed Airline Reservation System
IBM was involved in the development of the Programmed Airline Reservation System and later offered its service to Delta Air Lines
IBM offered its expertise to many airlines - Pan American World airlines using IBM 7080 , World Airlines, Delta Air Lines

12. SCOPE
1976 – United Airlines offered its Apollo system to travel agents.
1976 – Vidcom International with British Airways, British Caledonian and CCL launched Travicom.
Travicom was the world’s first mutli-access reservation system.
Travicom formed a network providing 49 subscribing international airlines to thousands of travel agents. By 1987 the system was handling 97% of UK airline business trade bookings.
1976 Apollo would allow travel agents to book flights with their competitors. Though the marketing value of this proved indispensible

13. SCOPE
BA owned 100% of travicom and wished to participate in the development of Galileo systems. Travicom then became known as Galileo UK.
1987 – A consortium led by Air France and West Germany’s Lufthansa developed Amadeus
1992 – Amadeus was launched, a global distribution system which sold tickets from multiple airlines.
Galileo – computer reservation system
Amadeus – computer reservation system / global distribution system as it sells tickets from multiple airlines

14. Amadeus Centre

15. GDS (Global Distribution System)
February 2009 – Only 3 major GDS providers:
Amadeus
Travelport
Sabre
One major Regional GDS – Abacus, serving in Asia.
Other regionals include:
Travelsky (China)
Infini (Japan)
Axxess (Japan)
Topas (South Korea)
February 2009 – 3 Major GDS – Amadeus, Travelport, Sabre and Shares.
Amadeus was formed in 1987 by an alliance between Air France, Lufthansa, Iberia Airlines and Scandinavian airline systems. Today, it is the leader in terms of number of bookings worldwide. Based in Spain, database in Erding, Germany. Development centre in Florida. Late competitor.
Travelport - operates in 160 countries and has over 5,500 employees. Private company owned by The Blackstone Group.
On September 19, 2007, Travelport became the first travel company to receive a 100 percent rating on the sixth annual Corporate Equality Index awarded by the American Human Rights Campaign Foundation.
Sabre developed by American Airlines to improve booking efficiency as there was a large increase in demand in the 50’s.
Sabre became a very controversial company from 1981.
Abacus not a threat to Amadeus, Travelport or Sabre

16. Inventory Management Airline Reservation Systems contain:
Airline schedules
Fare tariffs
Passenger reservations
Ticket records
Inventory contains all flights with seats available.
Divided into service classes (First, Business & Economy). .
Schedule distribution system uses standardized interfaces.
Real time interface to the airline’s Yield management system to support optimization against pricing strategies of competitors.

17. Availability Display and Reservation (PNR)
User accesses inventory through an availability display
Contains all offered flights for selected city-pair with available seats.
Reservations are handled by the Passenger Name Record (PNR).
PNR contains personal information of passengers – name, contact info & special requests.
Special Service Requests – Vegetarian meal, disabilities etc
This display contains flights which are operated by the airline itself as well as code share flights which are operated in co-operation with another airline.
If the city pair is not one on which the airline offers service it may display a connection using its' own flights or display the flights of other airlines.
Some reservation systems also allow to store customer data in profiles to avoid data re-entry each time a new reservation is made for a known passenger.

18. Availability Display and Reservation (PNR)
Before departure, the Passenger Name List is transferred to the Departure Control System to check-in passengers and baggage.
Other data collected is also sent to Flight Operations Systems, Crew Management and Catering Systems.
On departure, the reservation system updates with a list of checked-in passengers, and financial data for revenue accounting is handed to the administrative systems.

19. Fare Quote and Ticketing
Fares data contains:
Fare tariffs
Rule sets
Routing maps
Class of service tables
Tax information
Two systems used for the interchange of fares data
ATPCO (Airline Tariff Publishing Company)
SITA (Societe Internationale des Telecommunications Aeronautiques )
Rules like booking conditions (e.g. minimum stay, advance purchase, etc.) are tailored differently between different city pairs or zones, and assigned a class of service corresponding to its appropriate inventory bucket
The compiled set of fare conditions is called a fare basis code. There are two systems set up for the interchange of fares data - ATPCO and SITA, plus some system to system direct connects.
The industry is at 98% electronic ticket issuance today although electronic processing for MCOs was not available in time for the IATA mandate.

20. ATPCO and SITA
Distribute fare tariffs and rule sets to all GDSs and other subscribers for over 500 airlines.
Only ATPCO competitor is SITA who distribute some fares in Asia, Africa & Europe.
Primary users of the data are GDSs (Sabre, Amadeus etc)
Updates are sent hourly and airlines will compare the data to offer the customer a more appealing offer.
Updated hourly on weekdays, 3 times a day on weekends.