In the news: British Airways’ large investments in products and services, Amadeus APAC’s enhanced team to drive airlines business, Tourico Holidays’ new push service
AIRLINES: BRITISH AIRWAYS IS INVESTING £500M TO BOOST CUSTOMER TRAVEL EXPERIENCE
Self service boarding gates at BA’s Heathrow for domestic Flights (Image credit: British Airways)
British Airways has launched its investment plans to the tune of £500 million (US$640.5 million), which will see upgrades in six areas to improve greater connectivity and enhance travel experience for its guests.
The investments include:
- New First Wing check-in area, launched on April 5, includes a dedicated two-lane security channel and direct access to the Galleries First Lounge and Concorde Room, two new security lanes to reduce the number of travellers passing through the current South security lanes, and a seating area.
- £400 million to enhance Club World business class with new catering to be introduced in June to the Heathrow business class lounges; fresh beddings inflight from July; new restaurant-style premium dining service in Club World business class from September. These changes will launch first on flights between London Heathrow and New York JFK, before being rolled out across the rest of the long-haul network in 2018. The airline is also looking at options for a new seat in Club World with direct aisle access in 2019.
- Club Europe business class on UK domestic services with improved menus on board and personalised service from cabin crew.
- New lounges for first and business class customers at Gatwick Airport’s South Terminal. Also planned is a £88 million upgrade to BA lounge facilities in New York’s JFK Terminal 7 and Boston. Next year Aberdeen and Rome’s lounges will be revamped, and Geneva’s will be expanded
- Latest generation Wi-Fi fitted on long haul and short haul fleets over the next two years. From this month guests in all cabins can enjoy the latest generation of WiFi as it is rolled out across the airline’s long-haul network. WiFi for short haul flights will commence later in this year. BA aims of having 90% of its fleet connected by 2019. Guests have options of faster or basic connection for a fee.
- Self-service check-in and biometric boarding gates, with the opening of airline’s first three automated self-boarding gates for UK domestic flights at Heathrow Terminal 5. The gates use facial recognition technology for guests to scan their boarding pass before walking into the aircraft. Guests can also self-service bag drop at Heathrow and Gatwick before proceeding through security.
“We will invest and innovate where our customers value it most, and differentiate ourselves with a unique on-board experience and service. We’re investing in Club World, focusing now on improved catering and sleep and in the future on a new seat,” said Alex Cruz, British Airways’ chairman and CEO.
Watch video of BA announcing its investment plans
CORPORATE: AMADEUS BEEFS UP APAC TEAM TO DRIVE AIRLINES BUSINESS
Good growth in APAC airlines business for Amadeus (Image credit:aircraft illcha/iStock)
Amadeus airlines business has seen strong growth over the past few years and most of it has come from Asia Pacific (APAC). To speed up the momentum it has strengthened its business unit team in APAC.
The company has promoted Cyril Tetaz into a the newly created role of head of commercial for Asia Pacific, airlines, to take charge of commercial relationships with Amadeus’ airline customers based in APAC. He retains his current role as regional director for Japan.
Jonathan Tong takes on new position as head of airline IT solutions APAC, Russia, Turkey and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). He relocates to Amadeus’ Singapore hub after a two-year stint at Amadeus’ R&D hub in Nice, France.
Abdullah Ozkececi is the new head of airline IT sales for APAC, Russia, Turkey and the CIS, based in Singapore. He was formerly head of airline commercial for Turkey and Ukraine.
Tong and Abdullah took over from Charles Rogier and Christian Baillet respectively, who have moved to Europe to take up positions within Amadeus’ Central Europe Airlines team.
TOUR OPERATOR: TOURICO HOLIDAYS LAUNCHES PUSH SERVICE FOR OFFLINE INVENTORY CACHE
New push service from Tourico
Florida-based global travel distribution company, Tourico Holidays, is offering its clients a new push service that allows them to build and refresh an up-to-date availability and rates cache.
The company said in a statement that its partners now have the option to import and cache Tourico’s inventory – creating an offline, in-house database of available product and prices.
Tourico’s new service now immediately pushes individual updates – or inventory changes – to clients, maintaining a fresh cache. The instant updates reduce latency and allow clients to sell last minute inventory, while greatly reducing failed bookings.
“Companies selling travel no longer have to pull data for current inventory,” said Lev Koutamonov, Tourico Holidays’ head of API integration.
“Our new push service allows distribution clients to integrate Tourico’s massive inventory of products and maintain up-to-date prices and availability. The process is more efficient and will lead to more successful transactions and better profits for our clients.”
The service also exposes the Tourico ‘business logic’, providing clients with precalculated total prices that reflect currency changes, promotion discounts, and other business factors. Furthermore, if suppliers focus on certain regions, they can opt into only receiving updates to certain hotels and inventory.
According to Koutamonov, Tourico is the “only business-to-business travel company in the world” to offer a push service that immediately updates changes to the wholesaler’s inventory.
“Travel suppliers can now maintain a current offline cache to better serve their customer,” he added.
• Featured image credit (First Wing check-in): British Airways
