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Archive Category: IT

Simplifying direct payments to the airline and reducing the cost of distribution

SITA has stated that it has come up with the airline industry’s first next-generation payments platform, which allows airlines to strengthen their direct channel sales.

With SITA’s new Horizon Payment Services airlines can access, through one standardised interface, multiple payment service providers (PSPs), acquiring banks and payment schemes.

SITA highlighted that accepting a broader range of payment types is an effective way for airlines to increase direct sales and drive down distribution costs. Referring to its 2011 Airline IT Trends Survey, the company mentioned that airlines continue to increase direct sales to passengers and that in 2011 direct sales may overtake indirect distribution for the first time, rising to 58 percent of tickets being sold directly by 2014.

“To increase direct sales, airlines need to accept the broadest range of payment options appropriate to each market they serve and to do so across multiple distribution channels - web, mobile, call centres, even at convenience stores,” said Cook, SITA Vice President, Airline and Passenger Solutions. “Multi-payment strategies can get very complex but with Horizon PaymentServices the various service providers are consolidated to a single interface. This simplifies direct payments to the airline and reduces the cost of distribution.”

Alternative forms of online, offline and mobile payments help extend the airline’s market reach globally, as well as to diverse market segments such as corporate bookers, lower-income households and older travellers.

Horizon PaymentServices allows airlines access to all standard credit card schemes (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Diners Club, UATP, Discover, JCB) and multiple PSPs such as Wirecard Bank, GlobalCollect, PayPal and PayGate, supporting global and local requirements. Alternative payment methods such as local debit cards, e-wallets, bank direct, and cash options (e.g. Western Union) can also be accessed, improving the ability to make cost-effective direct sales. According to SITA, sophisticated fraud screening is embedded in the system while a flexible business rules engine controls which transactions, currencies and forms of payment are to be offered in any distribution channel.

 

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Technology will enable safer air travel

By Charles Sander | Unisys Corporation

Airports, airlines, passengers, communities and governments worldwide have felt the effects of the financial decompression of the aviation sector as a result of terrorist attacks, SARS, and airline failures. Failing or bankrupt airlines, loss of industry and support-service jobs -- even tourism and entertainment communities have been hit -- contributed to global financial losses.

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Traveldoo offers tools to control travel expenses

PARIS -- Traveldoo, a French company with a global business plan to provide systems for companies to control travel expenses, has released a new product called Traveldoo Enterprise. The company says this product proposes a new set of capabilities to help large organisations improve the performance of their travel procurement processes and optimise their European travel spend.

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Opodo CEO sees more consolidation in online travel

LONDON -- There will be further consolidation of the online travel industry and it is inevitable in Europe the Pan-European companies will be the winners, said Opodo.com CEO David Scowsill in a keynote address at EyeforTravel's European Travel Distribution Summit. "Pure nationals will operate in niches, but cannot play globally," Scowsill said.

"Consolidation, for both the leisure and corporate travel players, has been the name of the game over the last 12 months, as we have seen a spate of acquisitions and mergers and the US," he said.

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Hong Kong group picks Wificom wireless server

SOPHIA ANTIPOLIS, France -- Hong Kong-based Systech Telecom has chosen Wificom’s flagship SAB Server as the backend service management platform for the company’s rapidly expanding wireless local area network (WLAN) services in the Asia-Pacific region. Systech Telecom provides high-speed and secure wireless broadband Internet access services to public users in hotels, airports and shopping malls throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Systech said the SAB Server would serve as the software solution for managing all current and future WLAN services.

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Wireless LANs picking up speed in Asia/Pacific

SINGAPORE -- Public wireless LAN (WLAN) services are finally picking up speed in Asia/Pacific after two years of struggling to get off the ground, according to a new report by Dataquest, a unit of Gartner Inc. In at least six major markets, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan, there is a wider choice of operators, service coverage is improving rapidly, and pricing has come down to realistic levels. The service is currently led by incumbent carriers, even though most of them are not first movers in this sector.

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Enterprise-level wireless certified at 400 hotels

LOS ANGELES -- STSN, a major provider of wired and wireless high-speed data communications to hotels and conference centers worldwide, has tested and verified the Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) of over 50 major corporations. The company said this assures enterprise-level security for over 280,000 business travelers at more than 400 STSN-installed hotel properties worldwide.

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Senate bill would jumpstart broadband access

WASHINGTON -- Senators George Allen (Virginia) and Barbara Boxer (California) have co-authored legislation to expand access to Internet broadband technology, with the goal increasing development in the telecommunications industry. Broadband increases the capacity of Internet connections, which means information can be transmitted much faster.

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New business model seen for WLAN hotspots

LONDON -- The United Kingdom will see in 2003 an acceleration in the development of software platforms for local wireless networks, predicts Ann-Louise Palm, CEO of Appear Networks. Further, there will be a growing influence of the "workspot" model.

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Intel launches Centrino Mobile Technology brand

LAS VEGAS -- Intel Corporation said today Centrino mobile technology is the new brand name for its upcoming wireless mobile computing technology. Intel said the new brand signifies Intel's best technology for notebook computers, based on a new mobile processor microarchitecture and wireless capability as well as features designed to enable extended battery life, thinner and lighter form factors, and outstanding mobile performance.

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