THE Wrap is a round-up of news in the travel and technology industries, and to keep track of developments in these sectors as businesses adapt and reset to meet challenges in the era of coronavirus.
Malaysia Airlines joins IATA’s 25by2025 to boost gender balance in aviation industry
Malaysia Airlines has committed to champion gender balance and create further career opportunities for women in the aviation industry by working with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) through the 25by2025 initiative.
A voluntary campaign for IATA member airlines, the initiative aims to strengthen female representation in the industry by 25%, or up to a minimum of 25% by 2025.
By 2025, IATA wishes to increase the number of women in top senior positions within the industry, participating in IATA events, panels and conferences. Additionally, those appointed to IATA’s governance roles up to a minimum of 25%, with an eye on gender-based parity in the long run for the industry.
Malaysia Airlines said in a statement 25by2025 would be the aviation industry’s platform to share best practices and monitor industry metrics annually to accelerate the aviation industry’s push to create a gender-balanced workplace.
“As part of Malaysia Airlines’ long-term vision of the future the airline seeks to use the 25by2025 initiative as an impetus to further create a positive, encouraging and rewarding work experience for all staff.”
The Malaysian carrier is also “committed to increasing representation of women in the workforce in underrepresented roles, such as engineers and pilots. Additionally, female staff and new candidates will be given more opportunities when applying for senior management roles across the airline.”
Group chief executive officer of Malaysia Aviation Group, Izham Ismail, said Malaysia Airlines and all sister companies under the group celebrate diversity and drive equality in gender, race, religion and age at all times.
“We strongly believe that talented female employees should be given an equal chance to explore new job opportunities and leave their lasting impacts.”
He is hopeful that by committing to these goals “the diversity we create can spur further innovation and growth for the airline and industry at large, making the future for us all that much brighter.”
IATA regional vice president for Asia Pacific, Conrad Clifford, welcomed Malaysia Airlines to the initiative. “By joining 25by2025 Malaysia Airlines is also signalling its commitment to advancing the role of women in the airline industry.”
He revealed seven airlines in the Asia Pacific region are participating in 25by2025. “I encourage more airlines in the region to join this important initiative.”
To date, 57 signatories worldwide have committed to the initiative.
Emirates offers “exclusive content” to agents on NDC-powered platform, imposes GDS fees
Emirates will implement GDS fees from July 1 in a bid to move travel agent partners to its NDC-enabled direct connect platform, Emirates Gateway.
The surcharge on all bookings made via Global Distribution Systems (GDS) will range between US$14 and US$25 per ticket depending on sector length.
The Dubai-based carrier explained this development follows the launch of Emirates Gateway in October last year. Agent and travel advisors who use this direct connect portal from July 1 will not have to pay the GDS fee, and will access to a wide range of products and services. These include differentiated ticket pricing such as promotional fares and pre-sales; the ability to sell excess baggage; access to rich content; differentiated pricing for select ancillary services; and faster access to new ancillary products.
Agents can access Emirates Gateway content through three ways: Emirates Partners Portal, the online gateway for trade partners; Emirates Booking Portal that is connected directly to the airline’s reservation systems and available in 16 languages; Emirates Gateway Sync, which is a facilitated link to the airline’s products and services.
Emirates introduced Emirates Partners Portal last July, which it described as “a one-stop shop for travel industry partners to quickly and securely access the full range of information on Emirates’ latest products, services and policies and obtain technical support.”
The airline said it is working closely with interested trade partners to bring them onboard Emirates Gateway so they will have access to a wide range of the airline’s fare products, and where bookings will not incur a distribution surcharge.
It added that agencies not signed up to Emirates Gateway can continue to access Emirates’ EDIFACT – legacy content through the airline’s GDS partners including Amadeus, Travelport, Travelsky, Infini and Sirena.
“Our goal is to empower our trade partners to deliver even better customer experiences” as Emirates Gateway, was launched “to address the limitations of current legacy systems and provide a wide range of additional content and options for agents,” said Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ chief commercial officer.
Taiwan’s ezTravel adopts Amadeus’ Travel API
ezTravel, Taiwan’s leading online travel agency (OTA), is implementing Amadeus Travel API, the first agency in Taiwan to do so.
The API, an NDC-enabled solution, gives access to new content and fares from airlines. It integrates with travel agencies’ existing systems and allows them to build their own customised travel booking applications. This API is being rolled out globally, according to Amadeus.
Through this solution ezTravel has access to aggregated NDC and non-NDC content, as well as servicing capabilities for a booking made via NDC such as changes, cancellations or adding ancillaries.
Amadeus said that as ezTravel is the first travel agency in Taiwan to adopt an NDC-enabled web services solution its customers are able to shop, order and pay for flights and related services, as well as add ancillaries/services to the booking using the NDC standard.
“In a diverse content environment it is critical to have one single end-to-end process for booking and servicing NDC and non-NDC content,” commented Norma Lai, general manager of ezTravel.
She added that with this solution the agency’s customers will have “richer airline content” … “ultimately helping us drive more tailored and differentiated travel experiences.”
• Featured image credit: Digital Vision/Getty Images
