Lesson3 crsgds-130719074325-phpapp01

FROM COMPUTER RESERVATION SYSTEMS TO GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS

- Lesson 3 -

Angelina Njeguš, PhD Associate Professor at Singidunum University

Belgrade - Serbia, 2013

Prof. dr Angelina Njeguš

Table of Contents

Introduction to Computer Reservation Systems

Typical CRS Functions

Evolution of CRS

Global Distribution Systems

GDS Organisations

Challenges for CRS/GDS

Big Data

Prof. dr Angelina Njeguš

What is CRS?

Computer Reservation System (CRS) is an information system that promotes sales and provides fast and accurate information about availability, price and bookings of tourism products and services

Originally CRSs were developed to facilitate business transactions and bookings related to air travel

Later, CRSs were extended for the use of travel agencies, hotels, and other tourism and hospitality businesses to manage their inventory and allow direct access through terminals to check for availability, make reservations and issue tickets

Today, CRSs are of high importance for travel and tourism industry with the main focus on direct reservations (e.g. directly in the hotel)

Prof. dr Angelina Njeguš

CRS History

CRS is the first information system that was used in tourism industry

Primarily was used as inventory-control system by airlines

In 1962 American Airlines introduced SABRE (Semi-Automated Business Research Environment) the first commercial CRS, developed by IBM, that was used for:

generating flight plans for the aircraft

tracking spare parts

scheduling crews ...

Figure: SABRE Reservation system in 1960s (Venema, 2011)

Prof. dr Angelina Njeguš

Typical CRS Functions

Flight schedule information

Days and times for flights operated by the airline

Availability information

Seat availability on a flight by service class (i.e. Economy, business, first class)

Fare quotes

A consolidated fare for an itinerary based on flight, day, time, service class and passenger types chosen

Reservation information

Seat bookings

Ticketing information

Generating and storing tickets

Refunds and cancellations

Cancellation of existing reservations and tickets

Prof. dr Angelina Njeguš

Evolution of CRS

In the 1970s and 80s multiple CRSs came up

The growth of air traffic expanded CRS

In order to distribute up-to-date information to all potential customers worldwide and to support the operation and administration of airlines, CRS evolves from the central to the distribution system

In the mid 1980s, CRS developed into much more comprehensive global distribution system (GDS) offering a wide range of tourism products and providing the backbone mechanism for communication between actors in tourism industry

Source: Dennis, 2012.

Prof. dr Angelina Njeguš

Travel Agent before GDSs

Travel agent required individual connections to airlines

If airlines used different mainframe systems, travel agent had to use and be trained on different mainframe clients

Searches and reservations were performed separately on individual airline CRSs

Prof. dr Angelina Njeguš

Travel Agent after GDSs

Source: Introduction to Airline Reservation Systems, 2009.

Prof. dr Angelina Njeguš

From CRS to GDS

Among the first non-North American CRS, that was developed jointly by Air France, Lufthansa, Iberia and SAS in 1987, was Amadeus

Source: Schulz, 1996

Prof. dr Angelina Njeguš

Global Distribution Systems - GDS

Besides air products, today GDSs provide access to:

Car rentals

Hotel booking

Packaged holidays

Cruises and ships

Railways

Local road transport ...

GDS enable clients to compare, and access information about travel, leisure, and other tourism related information from various tourism service providers

Prof. dr Angelina Njeguš

What is GDS?

GDS is an integrated information system and communication channel that:

incorporates all travel services

connects service providers with end users

providing information from all segments of the journey

allows booking and selling of the required services

Today GDS is:

the most cost effective tool for buyers of business travel to manage the complexity of supply

more than just a reservation tool - integrates the core business processes of tourism businesses and therefore increase their productivity, speed, and performance

Prof. dr Angelina Njeguš

Major GDSs in operation today

Sabre

Amadeus

Travelport (the umbrella company for the Galileo, Apollo, and Worldspan)

Figure: GDS Bookings Worldwide market share (Amadeus, 2009)

37%

30%

29%

4%

Amadeus

Sabre

Travelport

Abacus

Prof. dr Angelina Njeguš

Sabre

Founded in 1964 by American Airlines and IBM Headquartered in Southlake, Texas, USA

Used by www.expedia.com, www.lastminute.com, www.travelocity.com ...

Source: Sabre Pacific, 2013.

Prof. dr Angelina Njeguš

Overview of Sabre solutions

Sabre Travel Network - solutions for the travel industry

Sabre Airline Solutions - solutions for the air transportation industry

Sabre Hospitality Solutions - solutions for the hospitality industry

Travelocity - online travel company

Source: Sabre Hospitality Solutions, 2013.

Prof. dr Angelina Njeguš

Amadeus

Founded in 1987 by Air France, Iberia, Lufthansa and SAS

Headquartered in Madrid, Spain

Largest booking share in Europe

Used by www.expedia.com, www.opodo.com, www.flights.com ...

Prof. dr Angelina Njeguš

Overview of Amadeus’ principal IT solutions offering

Amadeus Full Altéa Suite (PSS)

Airline IT

Other IT solutions

Other airline IT

Reservation Inventory Departure control e-Commerce

Global services

Revenue integrity,

e-ticket server

Non-air

Hotel IT

Airport

IT Rail

IT

Source: Amadeus, 2012.

Prof. dr Angelina Njeguš

Galileo Today under Travelport GDS

Founded in 1993 by 11 major North American and European airlines Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Used by www.orbitz.com, www.hotwire.com and others

Prof. dr Angelina Njeguš

Worldspan Today under Travelport GDS

Founded in 1990 by Delta Airlines, Northwest Airlines and Transworld Airlines

Merged with Galileo in 2006

Source: Travelport, 2013.

Prof. dr Angelina Njeguš

Estimated air market share gain (2000-2012)

Source: Amadeus, 2013.

Prof. dr Angelina Njeguš

Travel Distribution Chain

Source: ETTSA, 2010.

Prof. dr Angelina Njeguš

CRS Architecture

Source: TechTuners, 2013.

Prof. dr Angelina Njeguš

GDS Organisations

In order to promote fair competition and to ensure that consumers do not receive inaccurate or misleading information on travel services, it is necessary to have regulations on GDS

Organisations work together with governments, and other relevant authorities to help define the correct regulatory framework for the travel and transport industry

There are several organisations, such as:

IATA - International Air Transport Association

ICAO - International Civil Aviation Organization

ETTSA - European Technology and Travel Services Association

ATPCO - Airline Tariff Publishing Company

IATAN - International Airlines Travel Agent Network

SITA - Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques

and many others

Prof. dr Angelina Njeguš

IATA International Air Transport Association

Trade association for the world’s airlines

Representing around 240 airlines or 84% of total air traffic

Formed on 1945

Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Supports many areas of aviation activity and helps formulate industry policy and standards on critical aviation issues, such as:

Security of passengers and cargo

Airline safety

Airline revenues

Infrastructure issues

Chargers and economic regulation and taxation

Fuel

Airline distribution

Environment ...

Prof. dr Angelina Njeguš

ETTSA European Technology and Travel Services Association

Promote the interests of GDSs and travel distributors and support full transparency, fair competition and consumer choice in the travel distribution chain

Launched in 2009

Based in Brussels

Members are Amadeus, ebookers, Expedia, Odigeo (and its brands eDreams, GoVoyages, Opodo and Travelink), Sabre (including its affiliate lastminute.com), and Travelport.

ETTSA’s main activities include:

Engaging in policy-making

Providing insight and information

Reporting new developments

Prof. dr Angelina Njeguš

SITA Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques

IT company specialized in providing IT and telecommunication services to air transport and related industries

Founded in 1949 by 11 airlines in order to bring about shared infrastructure cost efficiencies by combining their communications networks

Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland

Almost every airline, airport, air cargo, and aerospace use some kind of SITA’s business solutions

SITA solutions for:

Airport, aircraft, baggage, cargo operations

Passenger operations

Transportation security

Communications and infrastructure

Commercial management ...

Prof. dr Angelina Njeguš

Challenges for CRS/GDS

Prof. dr Angelina Njeguš

Problems of Big Data

Analysis from Google shows that the typical traveller uses 22 websites to research a trip, in multiple shopping sessions, before booking

The growth of Cloud, Mobile and Social Computing leads to the fact that organisations are flooded by:

Huge volume of data

High velocity of data

Variety of data

Digital content will grow to 8ZB by 2015

Prof. dr Angelina Njeguš

The physical size of Big Data

Name Symbol Binary Decimal

byte B 20=1 byte 100=1

kilobyte KB 210=1.024 byte (B) 103=1.000

megabyte MB 220=1.048.576 B 106=1.000.000

gigabyte GB 230=1.073.741.824 B 109=1.000.000.000

terabyte TB 240=1.099.511.627.776 B 1012=1.000.000.000.000

petabyte PB 250=1.125.899.906.842.624 B 1015=1.000.000.000.000.000

exabyte EB 260=1.152.921.504.606.846.976 B 1018=1.000.000.000.000.000.000

zettabyte ZB 270=1.180.591.620.717.411.303.424 B 1021=1.000.000.000.000.000.000.000

yottabyte YB 280=1.208.925.819.614.629.174.706.176 B 1024=1.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000

brontobyte BB 290=1.237.940.039.285.380.274.899.124.224 B 1027=1.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000

geopbyte GeB 2100=1.267.650.600.228.229.401.496.703.205.376 B 1030=1.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000

Bit (b) – 0 or 1

Byte (B) – 8 bits

Kilobyte (KB) – 1024 bytes

Prof. dr Angelina Njeguš

Big Data sources

Prof. dr Angelina Njeguš

What is Big Data?

Source: Informatika. Available at: http://www.informatica.com/us/vision/harnessing-big-data/

Prof. dr Angelina Njeguš

Prof. dr Angelina Njeguš

References

1. Markiewicz, P. (2013) Computer History – Mainframe Era (1944-1978). Available at: http://plyojump.com/classes/mainframe_era.php (accessed: 17.07.2013)

2. Venema, M. (2011). Global Distribution Systems (GDS). Edutour – Education for Tourism. Available at: http://www.slideshare.net/magielsr/gds-overview-1232798141856259-2-2359117 (accessed: 18.07.2013)

3. Introduction to Airline Reservation Systems. Available at: http://www.slideshare.net/mave_boy/introduction-to-airline-reservation-systems-1237705 (Accessed: 17.07.2013)

4. Dennis, B. (2012). Hospitality Internet Booking Engines & Central Reservation Systems: A thought-piece concerning online reservation technology for the hospitality industry. Buuteeq, Seattle, WA.

5. Schulz, A. (1996). The Role of Global Computer Reservation Systems in the Travel Industry Today and in the Future. Electronic Markets, 6(2). Available at: http://aws.iwi.uni-leipzig.de/em/fileadmin/user_upload/doc/Issues/Volume_06/Issue_02/The_Role_of_Global_Computer_Reservation.pdf (accessed 17.07.2013)

6. Amadeus (2012). Corporate presentation 2012. PowerPoint presentation. Amadeus.

7. Sabre Pacific (2013). Sabre online enhancements power increased productivity. Travel Blackboard. Available at: http://www.etravelblackboard.com/article/143630/sabre-online-enhancements-power-increased-productivity (accessed: 18.07.2013)

8. Sabre Hospitality Solutions (2013). Central Reservation System (CRS). Sabre. Available at: http://www.sabrehospitality.com/central-reservation-systems.php (accessed 18.07.2013)

9. Travelport (2013). Travelport GDS Privacy Policy. Available at: http://www.travelport.com/Privacy-Policy/Travelport%20GDS (accessed: 18.07.2013)

10. Amdekar, J., Padmanabhuni, S. (2006). Future of Travel & Tourism Industry with the adoption of Web Services in Electronic Distribution. Infosys. Available at: http://www.infosys.com/industries/hospitality-leisure/white-papers/Documents/webservices-adoption-travel-tourism.pdf (accessed 18.07.2013)

11. ETTSA (2010). Technology and Independent Distribution in the European Travel Industry. PhoCusWright . Available at: http://www.ettsa.eu/uploads/documents/ETTSA_Study_2010_Single_Pages.pdf (accessed 18.07.2013)

12. TechTuners (2013). T-RES. Available at: http://www.techtuners.com/TRES.aspx (accessed 18.07.2013)

13. Davenport, T.H. (2013). At the Big Data Crossroads: Tuning towards a smarter travel experience. Amadeus IT Group. Available at: http://www.bigdata.amadeus.com/assets/pdf/Amadeus_Big_Data.pdf (accessed 18.07.2013)

14. Videcom (2013). GDS Distribution. Videcom Airline Reservation Systems. Available at: http://www.videcom.com/airline-global-distribution-systems.aspx (accessed 18.07.2013)

15. Amadeus (2013). Amadeus Introductory presentation. Available at: http://www.investors.amadeus.com/media/files/english/column_boxes/Introductory Presentation (long form) February 2013.pdf (accessed 18.07.2013)