If airlines only had one single price, in order to cover operating costs, the price needs to be high. Which would lead to that no one could actually fly. We explore the question of how continuous pricing – enabled by NDC – compares to static dynamic pricing.
Even if airlines only had a single price for each cabin (first, business and economy), the price per cabin would still be high. Continue reading
Travel Topics explained in a simple way: Let’s talk about the data standard New Distribution Capability (NDC).
Dear Readers, during a tough year with a global pandemic which cost the travel industry according to IATA in excess of $118 billion, I was under the impression, no-one would be interested in educational stories about travel technology. Hopefully, we have better times ahead of us. Hence, I decided to continue my series with focus on necessary technology improvements such as NDC and ONE Order.
It’s no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic is redefining business travel. One of the changes is the increased importance on Travel Risk Management. This is reflected in studies but also in the work of the International Standards Organization (ISO), which is currently working on a new ISO 31030 (Travel Risk Management – Guidance for Organization).
TMCs and risk management companies can be a great support for the organizations. PASS provides the booking data for preventive and active risk identification.
Many companies today align their software development with the DevOps model. But saving time alone is not enough, security aspects must be included from the very beginning – keyword: DevSecOps.
The second article in my series “Time to Production” has shown the optimization potential that system operation and administration can achieve through close cooperation with development, QA and product managers as well as consistent use of tools. However, it is too short-sighted to use a deployment pipeline to make new code available to users in real time: the pipeline should also deliver a secure application in a secure and monitored system environment.
The DevOps model brings developers and administrators closer together and enables agile methods in both areas.
In the first article of my “Time to Production” series, I highlighted best practices for optimizing the time it takes for a new feature from a product owner’s request to the completion of development. With the completion of software development, however, the feature is not yet available to users in the production system. The idea of also speeding up the second part of the supply chain after a change has been handed over to the operator – without any compromise in availability, security or other quality features – is obvious. Here too, the application of agile principles is promising. DevOps – the composition of the terms development and operations – is a model and not a role. It is neither meant that developers take over the task of operators and administrators, nor vice versa. Content of the DevOps model is the interdepartmental cooperation between development, quality assurance and operation as well as the implementation of best practices in software development in the field of service management and system administration.
Productivity is an important key figure in software development. It determines which software volume an organization can create with a certain amount of effort while adhering to certain quality criteria. We have already published several articles about our experiences with its measurement and optimization. However, high productivity in software development alone does not say anything about how quickly a new feature of an application can be used in production by users – the so-called Time to Production. My new series of articles deals with this topic.
In one of my previous contributions, I described how the management model used at PASS for several years works. In brief: It is based on three key performance indicators (productivity, costs and quality) and the corresponding measurement methods. Continue reading
When processing an error, the focus is naturally on correcting it in order to eliminate the user’s restrictions on the use of the system. In many cases, agreed response or troubleshooting times require a quick focus on a solution, even if it is only a workaround solution that does not prevent the error from occurring in the long term. Continue reading
Many times I am asked: “What are the characteristics of a good, flexible, modern Online Booking Tool (OBT) for travel?” Some of the existing ones carry a lot of baggage, which makes them less flexible. They are and in constant competition with rapidly changing consumer applications. But those ‘legacy’ OBTs provide stability, even though they may not look nice. Manufacturers try to facelift or re-develop them, but I ask the question: Does a business travel online booking tool really need to be fancy and compete with all the consumer apps out there? Continue reading
In my last article “Three levers for higher productivity in software development“, I used empirical values to show how industrial methods, such as standardization and automation, affect productivity. Thus, software development by industrial means does not aim at mass production of similar products; on the contrary, it enables a high degree of individualization by a small-scale standardization of business-related and technical components. Continue reading
In October 2017, I wrote a blog about the technical and commercial challenges of NDC. The title was “The reality behind NDC: Why NDC won’t break down the GDS oligopoly – yet”; A year later, I guess one can say for sure that the last word “yet” of the title can be erased. The New Distribution Capability – or in short NDC – will come that’s for sure, but primarily through the GDSs! Continue reading
In my article “Individual Standard: Mass Customization in Software Development” I pointed out how optimization potentials can be exploited by reusing fine-granular business and technical components. Here, the development of a travel management system served as an example with a total of 2,286 man days saved. Considering this impressive figure, the question arises: To what extent can the productivity in the development of individual systems be increased?
It sounds so easy to use NDC, but the reality is: Not too many bookings are being made. Why?
Airlines including Lufthansa, British Airways, Iberia and American have announced direct connect initiatives via NDC. They either introduced charges to book through a GDS or will be offering additional capabilities if booked directly through their NDC interface. When it comes to costs (or certain fares not being available in preferred channels) it affects everybody. It sounds so easy to use NDC, but the reality is: Not too many bookings are being made – especially for business travel. Why is that? Continue reading
While the first book figured out experiences with different measuring methods, my second book entitled “Management Model, Cost Estimation and KPI Improvement” describes a management model based on key performance indicators. Continue reading
Travel topics explained in a simple way: Today let us understand the difference between fares, rates and tariffs.
As a definition, a fare is usually referenced to in air travel while rates are used with hotels. According to ATPCO (Airline Tariff Publishing Company), a fare is not only the amount a passenger pays, it also contains the conditions for travel at this amount – that are the rules and/or restrictions that must be satisfied in order to qualify for a specific fare. Continue reading
As Head of the Competence Center Project Governance, I am responsible for the process engineering for software development at PASS. For several years we have been using key performance indicators as a major information source of our IT management – in more than ten different application environments with more than 500 customers and approx. 250,000 users. In some areas our regularly measured KPIs show significantly higher delivery productivity. Continue reading
Today I would like to just focus on the distribution and the inventory management and therefore on the differences between CRS (central reservation systems) and GDS (global distribution systems).
For a long time, mass production allowed an optimum utilization of operating assets and thus higher quantities, shorter delivery times and lower product prices than individual production which is rather characterized by more attractive and usable products. Continue reading
Blockchain, cryptocurrencies, the Bitcoin & Ether rollercoaster – is it a digital revolution or a fake hype? What does it mean for travel? Are you missing out?
The frequent reader of this blog knows that I’m not blogging every other week in order to boost the Google ranking of this blog, but I rather try to dive deep into topics that may matter and provide as much information as possible to explain the topic. My goal is to create the articles of this blog as a one-stop shop in order to get a comprehensive overview of the topic. So, this time I want to touch another hype topic: Blockchain (in travel). Continue reading
Complicated topics explained in a simple way: What is a ‘married segment’ and how is it related to the terms ‘stopover’ and ‘connection’?
A question on my blog post “What Is a Passenger Service System?” made me realize there are still a few terms which are not explained in a simple way on the internet. While there are tons of suggestions what agents can do to take advantage of ‘married segments’, I couldn’t find it explained in a simple way. Hence, I just wrote a dummy article about it. Continue reading
