The third in a series of four 2011 IATA e-services/EMD workshops was held in Singapore this month. The Madrid, Miami and Singapore events gathered more than 300 delegates from 100 airlines and 20 system providers/GDSs around the world. The level of participation in all three workshops demonstrates the high interest in EMD and motivation towards meeting the 2012 Board target of 100% EMD capability.

Feedback on the workshops confirms that the content was well tailored and met participants’ expectations. The workshop format, a balanced agenda of formal presentations and panel discussions, catered to all levels of EMD expertise. The possibility of dialgoue with system providers and IATA experts in one-on-one sessions was also very much appreciated. The most popular sessions were case studies from airlines that have already implemented EMD, panel discussions with airline representatives and presentations on how EMD works. All in all, airlines felt much better prepared to implement EMD by the Board target date.

Congratulations go to Corsair, Dutch Antilles Express and Hainan Airlines for achieving EMD capability in May, raising the total number of EMD capable airlines to 17.