HP Helps Send Thomas Cook's Customer Service Sky High

HP Helps Send Thomas Cook’s

Customer Service Sky High

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The challenge

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Thomas Cook needed a smart technical solution to streamline its departure control system in order to reduce costs, simplify administration and improve customer service.

It’s a challenging time for the world’s airlines. Many of them are struggling with the demand of keeping revenues ahead of costs. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the average airline earns $4 for every passenger carried. That’s “less than the cost of a sandwich in most places” according to IATA’s CEO Tony Tyler.

Passenger numbers are rising - this year they topped three billion for the first time - but so are fuel prices. Governments are imposing ever more stringent legislation around passenger and data security. Yet the onus is still on airlines to produce great customer experiences, save money and simplify administration demands.

One of the world’s leading travel companies, Thomas Cook, decided

to take action and find a technology driven solution that would deliver on these points:

Simplify administration Reduce costs Improve customer service

The challenge: Simplify administration 3

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Identifying complexity

This was no easy task. Thomas Cook has a global footprint, operating four airlines with 92 aircraft. In the past business year it carried 17.3 million passengers to 150 destinations. In

order to reduce inefficiencies across its various operations, Thomas Cook decided to implement a single Departure Control System for all its airlines.

“We had more than 30 different Departure Control Systems worldwide, operated by our service providers and handling agents. Running so many different systems was not cost efficient. It was like sitting behind a wall where we couldn’t really see what was happening across the network. With cost pressures and increasing administrative demands as the two main challenges, we needed one single system.” – Oliver Stroebel Head of passenger process and systems at Condor Flugdienst (part of the Thomas Cook Group)

The challenge: Reduce costs 4

The solution

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Thomas Cook turned to HP Enterprise Services to provide a Departure Control System that would enable it to simplify processes and improve customer experiences.

After an extensive search Thomas Cook opted for HP’s Departure Control System, axsControl. It was a solution that ticked all the boxes for Thomas Cook. It supports the whole process of passenger, baggage and aircraft handling in real-time and is already used by the airline industry to support more than 65 million passengers and 700,000 flights a year. More importantly it consolidated 30 worldwide departure systems into one centralised system.

Among its many functions are a Graphical User Interface (GUI) for

check-in, electronic ticket handling and the printing of boarding passes and baggage tags. It supports passport scanning and facilitates through checking for multi-flight journeys. Aircraft management includes baggage reconciliation and a fully integrated weight and balance system with automated load planning. The system also supports all the post departure activities, including automated dispatch of all IATA standard messages and automatically updating reservation and e-ticket data.

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“Replacing the previous 30 systems with the HP Departure Control System brings a saving of between 10 and 20 per cent. Administration is simpler and more efficient and, because we now have fewer interfaces to different systems, we reduce the complexity.” – Oliver Stroebel

The solution: Automate services with Graphical User Interfaces for increased efficiency 6

Thomas Cook achieved savings of between 10 and 20 per cent by replacing 30 systems with one. It also made administration simpler and more efficient. It needed less manpower to manage and update the systems and gave the company more visibility on what happens at the airports and the current situation of each flight.

Condor Flugdienst - a Thomas Cook Group airline based in Germany - is now able to implement passenger services that were not previously possible without a lot of complex workarounds. These include online and kiosk check-in and also interlining, the process whereby

passengers travelling on itineraries requiring multiple airlines can buy just one ticket. Interline passengers then have the comfort of through baggage check-in and boarding passes for all onward connections.

Since most Condor business is vacation charter, passengers nearly always opt for full baggage check-in and, on average, the HP Departure Control System automation reduces this by about five seconds per passenger. With 17 million passengers per year this amounts to a cumulative saving of nearly 1,000 days, resulting in shorter queues and decreased wait times.

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“The greatest benefit of all this is that the customer has a smooth, enjoyable and safe journey.” – Oliver Stroebel

Improving the customer experience

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The solution: Introduce new baggage loading technology to avoid flight delays

Better safety and efficiency

The Departure Control System enables Thomas Cook to further build safety and efficiency into its processes. It provides cabin crew with precise details on special passenger requirements and improves flight safety by providing a crucial single database for weight and balance information, including seat maps. It also helps comply with ever-increasing security regulations.

Another new facility, ‘The Green Procedure’, helps Condor eliminate flight delays when luggage has

to be unloaded for passengers who have not boarded the plane. Baggage loaders are equipped with handheld devices and HP Enterprise Services has customised the system so they receive notification when individual passengers pass through the boarding gate. They scan the baggage containers and cross-check with the passenger data so no container is loaded before all the passengers are on-board, avoiding the delay and cost of searching hundreds of items in the hold if someone does not board.

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Thomas Cook turned 30 departure control systems into just one by introducing an HP Enterprise Services solution, saving between 10 and 20 per cent on running costs, simplifying administration and boosting efficiency.

Thomas Cook’s system runs on dual mainframe processors in different HP locations in Zurich and connects to airports across TCP/IP internet links.

The system is already trusted by other airlines to support more than 65 million passengers and 700,000 flights a year.

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Business Value Exchange presents HP Enterprise Services case studies 

Our new case study series looks at the real benefits that organisations have gained from modernising their IT systems - not just estimates and predictions.

Accurate planning and careful risk assessment need real data, not guesswork.

Your organisation can benefit from the example of others. That’s why we’ve provided case studies from a cross-section of industries and sectors, from supply chain management and high fashion, to benefit provision and education.

Take a look at more of our resources on the Business Value Exchange website.

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