- Nov 21, 2003
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Three Airlines See Shared Data System Saving Millions
Monday, March 8, 2004 02:47 PM ET Printer-friendly version
FRANKFURT -(Dow Jones)- Deutsche Lufthansa AG, UAL Corp. (UALAQ, news)'s United Airlines (UALAQ, news) and Air Canada (AC.T, news) hope to save EUR200 million to EUR300 million a year through a common data system they'll begin work on in a few weeks, a Lufthansa manager said Monday.
The three carriers, all founding members of the Star Alliance group of airlines, plan to have their common IT platform up and running by 2007 or 2008, Holger Haetty, Lufthansa's head of network management, IT and purchasing, told journalists at a Lufthansa event at the Frankfurt Airport.
As Dow Jones Newswires first reported last month, the three airlines plan to develop a single technology platform that will unify and streamline their reservations, inventory, and check-in procedures. The platform would later be offered to the other 11 members of the Star Alliance.
The three carriers are in exclusive negotiations with Amadeus Global Travel Distribution SA of Madrid to provide the technology backbone for the project. Haetty told Dow Jones Monday that the final contract hadn't yet been signed, but an announcement will likely be made in coming weeks, at which point work on the platform would begin.
Haetty wouldn't say how much the project will cost to develop, but he said "we have an investor who's working with us, an IT provider."
Star Alliance airlines are also banding together to save money with a combined order of smaller, regional jets, and they've set up a fuel-purchasing company together as well.
"Alliances provide 80% of the benefits of a merger with only 20% of the problems," Carsten Spohr, Lufthansa's head of alliances, said at Monday's event.
Spohr said the drive now is toward total commonality among partners behind the scenes to provide maximum cost-savings, while still showing the visible variation in service, uniforms and atmosphere that market research has shown customers want.
In addition to the airline crisis that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, network carriers in Europe have been faced with a sudden explosion of no-frills airlines, all of which have forced companies such as Lufthansa to cut costs to compete.
Lufthansa Chief Executive Wolfgang Mayrhuber said Monday that he takes seriously the onslaught from 13 players in Germany's no-frills field, and is still learning from discount competition. Asked if it's gotten easier or harder over the past two years of the low-cost boom, he said "no change."
"We have more competition, but we're defending our position," Thierry Antinori, Lufthansa's head of sales, told Dow Jones Newswires. "We are not losing market share in Germany."
Company Web site: http://konzern.lufthansa.com
Monday, March 8, 2004 02:47 PM ET Printer-friendly version
FRANKFURT -(Dow Jones)- Deutsche Lufthansa AG, UAL Corp. (UALAQ, news)'s United Airlines (UALAQ, news) and Air Canada (AC.T, news) hope to save EUR200 million to EUR300 million a year through a common data system they'll begin work on in a few weeks, a Lufthansa manager said Monday.
The three carriers, all founding members of the Star Alliance group of airlines, plan to have their common IT platform up and running by 2007 or 2008, Holger Haetty, Lufthansa's head of network management, IT and purchasing, told journalists at a Lufthansa event at the Frankfurt Airport.
As Dow Jones Newswires first reported last month, the three airlines plan to develop a single technology platform that will unify and streamline their reservations, inventory, and check-in procedures. The platform would later be offered to the other 11 members of the Star Alliance.
The three carriers are in exclusive negotiations with Amadeus Global Travel Distribution SA of Madrid to provide the technology backbone for the project. Haetty told Dow Jones Monday that the final contract hadn't yet been signed, but an announcement will likely be made in coming weeks, at which point work on the platform would begin.
Haetty wouldn't say how much the project will cost to develop, but he said "we have an investor who's working with us, an IT provider."
Star Alliance airlines are also banding together to save money with a combined order of smaller, regional jets, and they've set up a fuel-purchasing company together as well.
"Alliances provide 80% of the benefits of a merger with only 20% of the problems," Carsten Spohr, Lufthansa's head of alliances, said at Monday's event.
Spohr said the drive now is toward total commonality among partners behind the scenes to provide maximum cost-savings, while still showing the visible variation in service, uniforms and atmosphere that market research has shown customers want.
In addition to the airline crisis that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, network carriers in Europe have been faced with a sudden explosion of no-frills airlines, all of which have forced companies such as Lufthansa to cut costs to compete.
Lufthansa Chief Executive Wolfgang Mayrhuber said Monday that he takes seriously the onslaught from 13 players in Germany's no-frills field, and is still learning from discount competition. Asked if it's gotten easier or harder over the past two years of the low-cost boom, he said "no change."
"We have more competition, but we're defending our position," Thierry Antinori, Lufthansa's head of sales, told Dow Jones Newswires. "We are not losing market share in Germany."
Company Web site: http://konzern.lufthansa.com
