L IA N C E IO 3 SP DIT UE E S IS
I N T E R N AT I O N A L DA I LY 26 OCTOBER 2017
WORLD PASSENGER SYMPOSIUM
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24 - 26 October 2017 | Barcelona, Spain
Airlines are chasing the holy grail irlines are aiming for personalization, a one-on-one relationship with the customer that will benefit both sides. While that is undoubtedly moving nearer, there are still roadblocks and the holy grail remains out of reach. Rob Broere, Vice President, PSS Transition, Emirates, believes data sharing is the main challenge. Speaking at Wednesday’s Passenger Experience session, he noted airline departments have problems sharing data between them and with other partners in the aviation value chain. “Everybody thinks the customer is their customer and so they are not willing to share
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information,” he says. Essentially, each company wants to make money out of the customer and not enable other companies to do so. Broere contested that belief, and argued that untapped potential means sharing data would be a win-win for all partners. Steve Peterson, Global Travel and Transportation Leader at IBM’s Institute for Business Value, agreed personalization is not about fi nding out someone’s maximum willingness to pay or doing a different version of the same process. Rather, it is about doing something unique for each customer. That isn’t yet possible because of the lack of
quality in the data—another roadblock in the quest for personalization. Airlines are getting better in this regard and have moved beyond straightforward window or aisle knowledge. But few will know how their passenger gets to the airport, for example. And they are probably not in a position to make suggestions about which amenities at an airport they might like to use. There are regulatory hurdles too. People are increasingly willing to share data for personalized services but do want assurances that data will not be misused. The European
Union’s General Data Protection Regulation comes into effect in May 2018 and affects any company handling an EU’s citizen’s personal data no matter where the company is located. Nevertheless, personalization is creeping closer. And loyalty, as opposed to revenue generation, is likely to be at its core. When there is a weather delay, for example, the airline could notify the passenger’s hotel or taxi company. This is useful for the passenger who may not have Wi-Fi or the correct contact and good for the aviation partners as they avoid passengers congregating around a desk or member of staff at an airport.
K E E P U P T O DAT E W I T H A L L T H I N G S A I R L I N E S R E L AT E D AT A I R L I N E S . I A T A . O R G
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For us, innovation is about exploring new horizons. Thanks to our SITA Lab team, we’re researching, developing and trialing tomorrow’s solutions with the community. We’re constantly pioneering groundbreaking technology for passengers, airlines and airports. We’re restlessly inventive and continually inspired by the challenges of leading the community into a future where the possibilities are endless.
Explore more at: www.sita.aero/innovate
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3 I ATA W O R L D PA S S E N G E R S Y M P O S I U M
Hackathons can drive innovation
ADVERTORIAL
Our NDC vision By George Khairallah, President of JR Technologies rue New Distribution Capability (NDC) is not about the technical ability to exchange XML messages, it is about an airline’s capability to make the passenger not only the center of its distribution system, but of all cascading operational and d management systems,
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delivering unprecedented agility in airline product modelling to market realization. JR Technologies has been actively involved in NDC since its conception and is a key contributor to the development of IATA NDC Schemas as well as the structuring of IATA ONE Order. Our approach is based on enabling personalization, which is in line with IATA Resolution 787, adopted unanimously by airline CEOs in November 2012. The vision is to ultimately serve a market segment of one and JR Technologies’ innovative product architecture is designed with this in mind. Our solutions enable dynamic pricing and dynamic bundling that are rooted in real-time business intelligence. In order to help airlines realise the NDC capabilities, we have developed an NDC sandbox—available free to all airlines interested in testing. Through this sandbox you can access JR Technologies’ NDC platform, Offer and Order Management System, Rich Content and Merchandising System (RCMS) for free evaluation. Interested airlines should contact ndc@jrtechnologies.com.
Regardless of where you are on your NDC journey, join us @WPS Booth 22 to learn about NDC end-to-end solutions
ATA’s Director General and CEO Alexandre de Juniac has called for airlines to be quicker in implementing new ideas. “I am a big believer in speed and innovation,” he says. “We cannot know the future. But we need to be prepared to react quickly when the environment changes. That’s not easy for any business—and it is a real struggle for process-driven industries like air transport.” Hackathons are one way to make that struggle less arduous. For two years now, IATA has been holding hackathons around the world focused on stimulating innovative apps and solutions
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using NDC.
“It brings IT professionals back to the reason why they work in this profession—having fun building great solutions” In August, IATA held a hackathon in Silicon Valley, at the offices of LinkedIn, and the latest hackathon took place earlier in October at the École Polytechnique, in Paris. “This is a simple illustration of what NDC is all about,” says Yanik Hoyles, IATA’s Director NDC Program. “It’s about bringing the world of airline distribution from a world of legacy technology with a small number of players, to a world of modern technology where anyone can come and build solutions.” Though the possible scenarios and solutions had previously centered on NDC and core travel data sets (and more recently ONE Order), the Paris hackathon broke new ground by including aviation big data. “It brings IT professionals back to the reason they work in this profession,” adds Tim Grosser, IATA’s Head of Digital Transformation, “having fun building great solutions.”
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Cutting through complexity most structural changes untouched would save time and money. In a market that has yet to reach maturity, these are important considerations for airlines, especially as the panel agreed that ubiquitous connectivity is coming in the near term, and all airlines will need to offer passengers the opportunity to connect. Jon Norris, Senior Director, Panasonic Avionics, affirmed that as well as the technology, the language used to describe
Eutelsat’s Jags Burhm at Wednesday’s panel on Inflight Connectivity
or airlines, deciding which infl ight connectivity system to implement and when has become a business-critical decision. Passenger feedback suggests Wi-Fi is more important than food—people would rather starve themselves than their devices. But, as Joe Leader, CEO, Airlines Passenger Experience Association, explained at the outset of an Inflight Connectivity session on
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Wednesday, airlines are assaulted with a barrage of conflicting claims, satellites, and systems that only adds to the complexity of the decision. Standardization—in both system architecture and language—will be essential for airlines to compare like with like. When the subject was discussed by a panel, however, it was warned that airlines shouldn’t think glibly of swapping out one system and plugging in another, like a SIM card. Nevertheless, Jags Burhm, Senior Vice President, Eutelsat (pictured), said that there is a middle ground between such simplicity and the complexity that currently exists, “and
we are getting closer to that.” Aside from having the flexibility to swap providers, standardization would make the cost of that exchange cheaper. Changing systems can be costly. Structural modifications are required when installing inflight connectivity, holes are drilled, extensive wiring installed. Being able to leave
connectivity options has to find common ground. Talking in terms of megabytes per second means little to the average passenger. Rather, he said, they want to know if a phone call will drop, if they can attach a document to an email, and if they can stream content. Passenger connectivity is not the only consideration, though. Airlines must think about all the services and solutions enabled by connectivity. That includes what happens on the flight deck. Communication tools such as the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) can be expensive. At the moment, about 80% of ACARS use is operational, 20% applies to safety requirements. Ultimately, some operational communication could switch to cheaper inflight connectivity.
Baggage award Mark Matthews s (AA) and David d Hosford (DL) receiving their Baggage 753 Readiness Platinum Awards from IATA’s Andrew w Price (middle).
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Gala dinner
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6 I ATA W O R L D PA S S E N G E R S Y M P O S I U M
A world of opportunity awaits
utonomous airport vehicles, new passenger payment systems, and increased personalization are three areas identified as offering opportunities in this year’s Simplifying the Business (StB) white paper. According to the paper, “airports are likely to see the introduction of driverless buses
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T u r n i n g to p a s s e n g e r p ay m e nt s , meanwhile, the white paper notes that “new generations of customers are increasingly open to adopting alternate and convenient forms of payment,” such as Apple Pay and Venmo, which is a mobile payment service owned by PayPal. The global airline industry “offers few of
over the next five years.” Other opportunities for automation include self-driving cargo unit load devices (ULDs) and ULD tugs, remote-controlled electric pushback devices, and even drones “that could move baggage around the airport.”
these options while it spends billions annually in payment fees.” The paper outlines a vision for a new form of payment—the IATA Wallet that would be simple, secure, and efficient for travelers while also reducing airline payment costs.
Personalization, meanwhile, will make it possible to deliver a “frictionless and personalized end-to-end travel experience” for air travelers. The personalization concept contains three main components: • A data-sharing taxonomy around which customer data will be organized. • A data interface and control guidelines so customers enjoy full access to, and control of, the data in their profi le. • Data integrity mechanisms that will enable customers to control who gets access to their information.
GDSs work on Level 3 NDC compliance
madeus, Sabre, and Travelport affirmed their commitments to ach ieve N DC Level 3 certification for their respective GDSs at WPS. Travelport Senior Vice President and Managing Director Derek Sharp said Level 3 status is expected “soon” and that it will
be achieved by early 2018 at the latest. Gianni Pisanello, Traveltech Strategy Di rector at A madeus, sa id Level 3 certification is expected next year, while Kathy Morgan, Vice President Product Management at Sabre, said the GDS is work i ng towa rd ach iev i ng Level 3 certification by the end of 2018.
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7 I ATA W O R L D PA S S E N G E R S Y M P O S I U M
ADVERTORIAL
NDC receives boost from ATPCO and SITA supports IATA’s New Distribution Capability (NDC) for air fares and ancillary sales. It has already been successfully piloted with major international airlines including Air Canada and British Airways.
the obvious technical benefits of speed to market with an NDC-compliant API and the ability to support multiple standards and schemas, Air Canada is keenly interested in the community effect, whereby the benefit of a distribution network of like-minded partners grows exponentially with each new participant in NDC Exchange.”
speed to market as it enables the quick and smooth adoption of NDC, it lowers the cost of compliance to the schema, and it will support complex interlining as airlines migrate to the new distribution format. This development demonstrates how SITA is supporting the airline community to address the challenges and realize the full potential
Keith Wallis, Director of Global Product Distribution for Air Canada, commented: “Participating in NDC Exchange as the launch pilot carrier provides an enormous amount of potential benefit to Air Canada. Beyond
NDC Exchange provides a simple and costeffective way for airlines, travel agents and aggregators to exchange real-time pricing and shopping data, along with ancillary messages. It brings three key advantages:
of NDC. SITA continues to work closely with the industry to develop key capabilities to help drive widespread adoption of NDC. Visit SITA and APTCO at Stand 5 and find out more information here.
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ITA and ATPCO are joining forces to provide NDC Exchange, an industry-owned platform that
Stimulating passenger spending irlines must develop more creative ways to stimulate passenger spend if onboard ancillary revenues are to reach their potential. On many carriers, cabin crew are still walking up and down the aisle giving passengers only a short window of time to buy even on long-haul fl ights. But broadband access and services enabled by onboard connectivity—such as destination shopping,
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premium entertainment content, and targeted advertising—are already growing quickly. Airlines must move forward in several ways, especially as the $15 billion broadband access revenue stream may dwindle as passengers increasingly expect free Wi-Fi wherever they are. Most crucially, airlines should take a fresh look at what they sell, why they are selling it, and what price they want to charge, argued panellists at Wednesday’s Onboard Ancillary Revenue Session. Looking at what competitors offer or what has been traditionally offered is not a way forward, they agreed. Content must also be marketed properly. People are more likely to make purchases when traveling than when they are at home according to research.
But passengers never know what is on offer until they board the aircraft. Why not work with other retailers and sell something that can be picked up on arrival? Payment must also be easier. Many sales are lost because passengers don’t have their credit card to hand. But they often have their smartphone, or their credit card details may already be on fi le. Interestingly, the panel agreed that seat back screens will not disappear any time
soon even though most passengers now bring a connected device onboard. Connectivity is not yet comparable to the on-ground experience but also people continue to behave much as they do at home. That means that they will probably be on their own device— checking their emails or browsing Facebook while watching a movie.
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INTEGRATED ECOSYSTEM IMPLEMENTING A FULL OFFER & ORDER MANAGMENT SOLUTION PRESENTED BY GEORGE KHAIRALLAH PRESIDENT, JR TECHNOLOGIES IATA WPS 2017 BARCELONA DISTRIBUTION & PAYMENT TRACK
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25th Ä 09:30 - 09:45
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IMPLEMENTING A FULL OFFER & ORDER MANAGMENT SOLUTION PRESENTED BY GEORGE KHAIRALLAH PRESIDENT, JR TECHNOLOGIES
25/10/17 FROM 0 9.00 - 10.30 IATA WPS 2017 BARCELONA DISTRIBUTION & PAYMENT TRACK
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