The 65th IATA Annual General Meeting (AGM) and World Air Transport Summit (WATS)

The 65th IATA Annual General Meeting (AGM) and World Air Transport Summit (WATS) was attended by delegates from 108 airlines. The AGM’s high attendance is a sign of the growing trend of industry-wide collaboration so essential in these challenging times. IATA wishes to thank all those who participated in the event.

IATA also wishes to thank all those who sponsored the event. A number of Strategic Partners contributed to the AGM/WATS as event sponsors.

IATA Partnering for Success Forum

The forum’s purpose was to create and enhance synergies within the Chinese aviation industry while exploring cost savings made possible by the implementation of various IT solutions. Through a variety of formats, including speakers, panels and one-on-one networking sessions, Strategic Partners were able to connect directly with decision-makers from local airlines, while the airlines were able to interact with globally-based suppliers and service providers.

Strategic Partners in BeijingAs the numbers of participants can attest, the response to this first-time initiative was exceptional, and its impact extensive. Attending Strategic Partners covered the broad spectrum of aviation services, extending well beyond the world of IT. In addition to TravelSky Technology Limited, Strategic Partners with delegates at the forum included:

• Accounting Centre of China Aviation
• Amadeus IT Group, S.A.
• Baggage Sortation Management (Australia) Pty Ltd
• BOC Aviation Pte. Ltd
• Bombardier Aerospace
• Cognizant Technology Solutions
• First Research Inst. Ministry of Public Security
• Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Limited
• Lufthansa Systems AG
• Navtech Inc.
• OAG Worldwide
• Oracle Corporation
• SITA
• Thales Group
• Unisys Corporation
• WorldTicket A/S

Delegates were also exposed to a different kind of learning opportunity: the forum permitted Strategic Partners to learn more about Chinese culture and issues affecting the Chinese aviation market, while Chinese companies were able to see how local tendencies related to global trends.

One of the forum highlights was the presentation made by Bryan Wilson, IATA’s CIO. With his broad understanding of the marketplace and the aviation business, Mr. Wilson was able to elaborate on the relation of regional issues to the global picture. Well-paced and easy to translate, his presentation was very well-received.

The team would also like to acknowlege BIITCo CIO Jianing Zhou, President John Chan and the entire team at BIITCo in China for their tireless efforts to make this first forum happen. And it may not be the last—participants are interested in attending an annual forum.

Argus Media Ltd: Reliable jet fuel prices in every
major market

Recent volatility in jet fuel prices has led to increased and unpredictable costs for airlines, damaging the profitability of many. Airlines buy jet fuel indexed to spot-market prices published by reporting firms, hedging exposure to jet fuel prices using swaps and other derivatives also indexed to these published prices. The more reliable and accurate the prices, the more airlines are able to forecast costs and reduce the effect of volatility due to hedging.

The most representative spot-price methodology seeks to include every spot market transaction occurring throughout the day within the daily prices. In centres where futures markets are part of the price formation process, it is also vital to use the most active futures trading period as the fixed price basis. Argus Media publishes daily jet fuel prices in every market centre used by airlines for indexation. These prices, reflecting the entire day of trade and often a volume-weighted average of transactions, are based on as much market liquidity as possible.

Focusing on liquidity produces prices less exposed to distortion by short-term market fluctuations and mirrors how airlines actually use fuel throughout the day. As a result, many airlines are now signing long-term physical supply contracts using these liquidity-based published prices, especially in the US.

Argus’ daily jet fuel report covers every global market. Being an IATA Strategic Partner enables close dialogue with jet fuel buyers and suppliers, helping Argus to design a market report that meets the distinct needs of the airline industry for this type of price index.

Argus Media Ltd info@argusmedia.com www.argusmedia.com

CPC Aéronautique: Innovative security procedures
for small-scale operations

Based in France, CPC Aéronautique has a proactive approach to security locally, nationally and internationally. Constantly on the search for new security procedures, CPC Aéronautique offers aviation-related companies assistance complying with ever-changing requirements and regulations, implementing the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA), optimising resources and reducing costs.

For example, an important customer wanted to get IOSA certification. Though safety issues were already well managed, the company’s security provisions remained problematic due to implementation costs and procedure considerations. As a small airline, gaining certification was a real challenge, given the difficulties related to dealing with service providers, punctuality and high costs.  

After auditing all their security processes and documentation, CPC Aéronautique built a new system founded on one key factor: a security agent who was always under the aircraft. This became the focus of the new security management system.

In accordance with the airline, the proposal was made to change all procedures so that the security agent placed under the aircraft could not only monitor the aircraft, but also the airline’s service providers. As regulations have imposed access controls and the screening of all staff around the aircraft, the security agent now tracks the hours of intervention in order to give the customer a real-time view of the handling of the aircraft.

The airline immediately noticed a better application of security measures, but was also able to review all its service level agreements (SLA) with service providers, which meant reduced costs and increased punctuality due to providers’ improved track record. The airline’s passenger load also increased, and the airline was granted IOSA certification.

Considering the benefits, some other airlines have adopted the same security management system, combining the implementation of security measures and SLA.

Sylvain Georgin sgeorgin@cpc-aero.fr www.cpc-aero.fr

Global Logistics System HK Co.: More than “less paper” for the cargo supply chain

Global Logistics System HK Co. (GLS HK) is an international cargo information-management solution provider specialising in the implementation of e-cargo data interchange for the airfreight industry. As an StB Preferred Partner in IATA’s Simplifying the Business (StB) e-freight project, GLS HK has been working closely with IATA, airlines, forwarders, customs authorities and shippers on solutions that aim to free freight processes of paper.

With e-freight progressively moving to realise this vision of efficiency, GLS HK has been appointed by its customer, Cathay Pacific Cargo, a pioneer in the implementation of this vision, to help make its imperative yet cumbersome manual freight process more effective through the use of technology.

With GLS HK’s plug-and-play global e-solution, designed to fulfil IATA’s e-freight requirements, Cathay Pacific Cargo is now able to manage high quality electronic messages, such as master and house air waybills (FWB & FHL), flight manifests (FFM), commercial invoices and packing lists with a single click of the mouse.

In an effort to deliver a genuine solution that can further streamline and improve Cathay Pacific Cargo’s business workflow and efficiency in the processing of electronic messages, GLS HK has embedded value-added business requirements and incorporated business intelligence into the solution. This customisation enables Cathay Pacific Cargo to

• reduce its processing costs, improve transit times, increase reliability and enhance its overall service.
• control more data with the need for fewer resources by minimising the customer’s need to verify data manually, thus expediting the document acceptance process and shipments’ time to market.
• grow its business, as Cathay now pays less to secure a plug-and-play solution that meets the evolving requirements of e-freight.

GLS HK will continue to develop solutions that simplify the workflow experience and improve efficiency as the industry moves to a paper-free environment.

Danny Tsang danny.tsang@glshk.com www.glshk.com

Kale Consultants Ltd: Outsourcing MRA—
the way ahead

Airmail revenue accounting (MRA) is a non-core but crucial activity, representing 5% to 10% of individual airlines' cargo revenue.

Though the mail business volumes are not significant, the lack of standardisation and the complexity of airlines’ agreements with postal authorities make airmail accounting a specialised domain. When it comes to running MRA operations, these circumstances often lead to smaller teams with a higher dependency on staff. The lack of flexible IT systems further increases manual efforts and hence the cost of running MRA operations.

Outsourcing MRA operations is one option for airlines considering how to address these issues while achieving operational efficiencies at reduced cost.

Outsourced MRA solution
In a typical outsourced MRA service, the service provider would receive various documents associated with the mail service (mail document, rate contracts, etc.), conduct multiple checks on the shipments related to accounting, and invoice the postal authority based on agreed rates between the airline and the authority. It would then feed the results directly to the airline’s general ledger system and provide regular management reports for revenues and sales.
In a nutshell, the service provider would act as the airline’s MRA department.

The benefits of outsourced MRA
A leading European carrier has reaped the following benefits by outsourcing MRA:

• Cost savings of 30% to 60%: Savings are the result of reduced manpower costs and the elimination of technology costs.
• Lower risk: The service provider ensures business continuity with sufficient backups and resource training, thereby nullifying the risk of a knowledge drain.
• Flexibility: The service provider’s ability to ramp up or ramp down its staff helps the airline scale up its operations quickly given changing business volumes.
• Streamlined processes: The airline receives high quality output with outsourced MRA, governed by the highest level of service agreements.

The bottom line
Outsourcing the MRA function is a sure-fire way for airlines to reduce costs, improve revenues and optimise the use of resources. Above all, outsourced MRA could free the airlines from non-core, high-cost activities, making it easier to focus on other strategic issues facing the aviation industry today.

Prakash Sonpatki prakash_sonpatki@kaleconsultants.com www.kaleconsultants.com

Lagassé Technologies: Trolley-safety solution delivers results

A few years ago, Air France was facing a significant business challenge: the risks and costs incurred as a result of shrinkage, in particular shrinkage apparently caused by theft. Due to the nature of the products (perfume, alcohol, jewellery, watches, etc.), as well as the movement of the trolleys and number of people handling them throughout the process, it was difficult to control and monitor each trolley as it moved between warehouse and plane.
 
Five years ago, AIR/LOGAIR (subsidiaries of Air France) decided to tackle the root cause of the problem by improving trolley security and putting a surveillance system in place to track trolley movements.

This goal was accomplished with a system using RFID tags provided by Lagassé Technologies under a TechniGREG licence. An electronic control system monitored and reported the movement of the trolley from key entry/exit points and every time the trolley door was opened. All the data was time-stamped, making it possible to determine who was responsible as each event was reported. This data also included all activity occurring during the flight, since the trolley-safety solution had been approved by the Direction Générale de l’Aviation Civile (DGAC).

As a result of the information provided by the system, it was possible to identify the precise times and location of the burglaries taking place. After a couple of months, the police were able to make arrests and reduce the amount of inventory shrinkage to one tenth the number prior to the installation of the trolley-safety solution.

After more than four years, the solution is still in use, the tags are being replaced, and untraceable losses continue to diminish.

Philippe Kervella philippe.kervella@lc-i.com www.lagasse-technologies.com

Lufthansa Systems: IT improves weather forecasts
for airlines

Wind, thunderstorms and snow can have an influence on the routing planned for a specific flight. That is why precise weather information is essential when airlines calculate the optimal route in terms of time, fuel and costs. For route optimisation, upper air data of various heights are required. To improve such weather forecasts, more than 280 aircraft in the Lufthansa fleet are able to collect weather data for Germany’s National Meteorological Service (Deutscher Wetterdienst, or DWD). Lufthansa Systems is responsible for co-ordinating with the DWD, developing the software to process data collected by aircraft and transferring them to DWD. These data increase the accuracy of weather forecasts.

Initiated by the World Meteorological Organization, Aircraft Meteorological Data Relay (AMDAR) is a system for collecting weather data during a flight. Each day, around 950 queries are sent to aircraft, and over 28,000 weather reports are prepared for the DWD. The DWD feeds the AMDAR data into the numerical weather prediction systems in order to calculate the weather forecasts for all German airports. The data are then distributed to weather services worldwide. As for aviation, the ICAO World Area Forecast Centres in London and Washington use AMDAR data to forecast the upper air winds and temperatures used in flight planning systems for route optimisation.

Lufthansa Systems, in close co-operation with the European AMDAR project, is currently in talks with European airlines interested in collecting weather data with their aircraft. This initiative would increase the accuracy of aviation weather forecasts in other countries, thus complementing airlines’ efforts to optimise routes.

Sandra Hammer publicrelations@lhsystems.com www.lhsystems.com

Navtech: Improved scheduling for flight crews’
quality of life

Pilots and crew members can only work so many hours before they experience fatigue. In addition, regulations limit how many shifts they can take. Faced with family responsibilities, it is natural that pilots and crew members would desire a work-life balance, as their quality of life is directly related to their work schedules.

These factors presented Navtech with a challenge: Was it possible to enhance an already good scheduling product that allowed pilots and flight attendants to personalise their monthly schedule so that it would meet and often exceed their quality-of-life expectations?

Navtech has developed and implemented an industry first: a concurrent pairing and reserve bidding module enabling pilots and flight attendants to alternate between flying and reserve lines until they find a balance between the two.

Navtech has also developed a Desktop bidding application used by pilots and crew members to bid on their schedule. The Windows-based application allows bidders to change and update their bids and create “what if” scenarios. This interface makes bidders more productive, giving them the time to focus on their bid.

With this application, it is also possible for crew members to go offline to explore possible scheduling scenarios. The system simplifies this complex process by generating pairings that match the needs of the airlines, industry, as well as staff. It does this by taking into account factors such as seniority and award levels using a transparent pre-award tool and post-award reasons report detailing why or why not a particular pairing or duty was awarded. This systematic yet user-friendly approach facilitates pilot and flight attendant acceptance.

Navtech product development involves collaborative consultation with airlines and their crews in an interactive forum which directly influences the evolution of Navtech systems. This partnership consists of focus groups convened at the various stages in the product development cycle to ensure that the systems continue to exceed partners’ expectations.

The Navtech concurrent module was implemented at Mesa Airlines in April 2009 and is currently in the final stages of user-acceptance testing at Delta Airlines and JetBlue Airways.

Andrea Murray amurray@navtech.aero www.navtech.aero

Superstructure Group Limited: SMS software for the sharing of safety information

The sharing of safety information has long been an ambition of the aviation industry. IATA has developed the Safety Trend Evaluation Analysis and Data Exchange System (STEADES), featuring a worldwide database of de-identified incident reports that provides a forum for the sharing and global analysis of safety data with participating organisations. The success of such a programme is dependent on the quality of information received and on overcoming the barriers to the sharing of safety information.

An IATA Strategic Partner and STEADES Partner, Superstructure Group is a global supplier of the Aviation Safety and Risk Management software, AQD. The AQD software facilitates the sharing of safety information by providing the means to capture and classify safety reports based on a standard classification system and to export de-identified safety information to STEADES.

AQD ensures that the information sent electronically to STEADES is confidential, has been consistently classified, and can be reviewed without manual preparation. As a result, IATA STEADES contributors benefit from enhanced safety performance that can be benchmarked against industry trends.

AQD also promotes safety reporting in the organisation, so the quality of the information supplied to STEADES is enhanced. An improved reporting culture means more information is available for analysis, delivering greater benefits to individual members.

Liz Swanston liz.swanston@superstructuregroup.com www.superstructuregroup.com

The latest from Simplifying the Business (StB)

While there are some signs of economic recovery, the crisis continues. IATA is forecasting a loss of US$9 billion for its members in 2009, on top of a US$10.4 billion industry loss in 2008.

Simplifying the Business (StB) and its US$14 billion in potential savings is more relevant than ever. Building industry momentum behind StB projects illustrates the industry’s recognition of the need to cut costs.

Fast Travel provides convenient self-service options to passengers in an airport, giving them more control over their journey. Two 2009 Board targets for the Fast Travel programme have already been met. The airports offering document scanning capability now number 117, well over the Board target of 75. Fifteen airlines are now offering bags ready-to-go, over the Board target of 10. Fast Travel is on track to meet its self-boarding target of 10 airlines. Moreover, with the introduction of bag recovery solutions on the market, including the WorldTracer kiosk from SITA, the number of airlines adopting a self-service approach to lost bag registration is expected to increase.

IATA e-freight continues to roll out paper-free air cargo around the world. Japan became e-freight live in July on the trade lanes between Narita and Amsterdam, Chicago, Copenhagen, Hong Kong, Incheon, London, New York, Singapore and Zurich. The world’s third largest economy is the 21st country to join the e-freight network, with three more countries expected to join by the end of the year.

To increase e-freight use, IATA e-freight is now hosting local adoption meetings in live locations around the world. There are sponsorship opportunities exclusive to IATA Strategic Partners at these meetings.

For more information, please contact Ruba Abdul Aziz at abdulr@iata.org.

Lost baggage is the second most important concern for passengers, according to the 2009 IATA Corporate Air Travel Survey. It also cost the industry US$3.3 billion in 2008. The Baggage Improvement Programme (BIP) is continuing its efforts to cut mishandling in half by 2012. The BIP team is completing diagnosis visits at airports around the world. The team will complete 20 visits in 2009, identifying baggage mishandling issues and recommending solutions, in consultation with StB Preferred Partners.

Keep up to date with StB: www.iata.org/stb.

A complete schedule of webinars between now and the end of the year has been published on the StB website. A limited number of speaking slots are available for StB Preferred Partners during the webinars.

For more information, please contact Ruba Abdul Aziz at abdulr@iata.org.

ISO 9001:2008 specifies requirements for a quality management system where an organisation understands its customers’ needs and meets those needs consistently. The quality system must also be geared towards improving customer satisfaction by always looking for better ways of working and better products to deliver.
  
According to Philippe Bruyère, Global Head of Passenger Services, “In these times of crisis, this visible and recognisable stamp of quality is a positive addition to the IATA brand. To be able to lead, represent and serve our industry, we must be credible. Credibility comes from consistency; and consistency comes from compliance with standard operating procedures.”

IATA Events and Conferences

IATA conferences, exhibitions and industry meetings provide outstanding networking opportunities as well as an association with the IATA brand, a world-class global endorsement. These events cover areas as diverse as pricing, ground handling, legal issues, fuel, security, etc., benefiting airlines, airports, travel and cargo professionals as well as service providers and governments.

• Aging Populations and Air Travel Concerns
  Webinar: September 10, 2009, 10 a.m. EST
  IATA teams up with Open Doors Organization to create a unique webinar explaining how to navigate the new disability laws around the world.
  
  
• 5th Cargo Claims and Loss Prevention Conference
  November 03–November 05, 2009, Dallas, U.S.A.
  This is the only conference of its kind addressing the special needs of
  a very important, yet often neglected industry niche. In these extremely challenging times, this conference can help prevent loss of precious revenue by promoting practical, workable solutions and best practices
  for quick and efficient processing and resolution of air cargo claims.
  
  
• Aviation Fuel Forum
  November 10–November 12, 2009, Vienna, Austria
  As the premier industry meeting for the world's aviation fuel community, this forum is a unique platform allowing airline representatives, fuel suppliers and Strategic Partners to discuss the industry's priorities.
  
  
• AVSEC 2009
  November 10–November 12, 2009, Cape Town, South Africa
  This conference will gather key security experts from governments, airlines and airports to set an agenda that will help us survive
  today—and build tomorrow.
  
  
• 125th Schedules Conference
  November 19–November 22, 2009, Vancouver, Canada
  The goal of the conference is for airlines and airports to obtain the slots that will give them the best possible schedule to offer their customers.
  
  
• IATA Commercial Strategy Symposium 2009
  December 09–December 11, 2009, Athens, Greece
  This year's Symposium will examine how IT can help to create and capture customer value, in addition to the perennial favourites: Revenue Management, Pricing, Marketing and Distribution.

Other events:
View a complete list of IATA events.

Sponsoring and exhibiting at IATA Conferences and Events provides an ideal opportunity to present your products and services to a focused and targeted audience. For more information, please contact:

Michael Huntington
Manager, Sales
Tel.: +1 514 874 0202, ext. 3495

Since 1990, IATA Strategic Partners have been contributing to IATA and the air transport industry through their involvement in the Strategic Partnerships programme. 

We are happy to introduce the following new Strategic Partners. Please click on the company logos to visit their respective websites.

American General Supplies, Inc.		BagDrop systems BV		BookIT Ltd
Braathens IT Solutions AS		GALLEHR+PARTNER		Lukoil Aviation Bulgaria EOOD
Marsh Limited		Nammo Primex Security Ltd		Sensis Corporation
Sonata Software Limited		Superstructure Group Limited		Vetter GmbH, IDEX Hydraulic Equipment Group

For a complete list of Strategic Partners, and to learn more about what they offer, please visit our online directory at www.iata.org/sp/partners.