IATA Training: Air Mercury – business simulation for airline leaders

The daunting prospect of “hitting the books” and a career defining exam is no longer the only way forward. Emerging technologies now allow us to bring real life scenarios into the “classroom”. These innovative training solutions meet the challenge of industry dynamics and growth head-on. International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released a new edition of the airline management simulation game as a part of the “Airline Business Models and Competitive Strategies” course.   

The course facilitates combination of instructor-led training about key commercial aspects of airline management (Fleet selection, network design, route development, pricing and revenue management, and marketing) and its application in a real market data-based simulation environment where teams of learners compete over several rounds of the game to achieve the best P&L performance for their virtual airline.  IATA has offered this course to aviation professionals of various seniority levels and functional responsibilities for over 10 years and continuously has added improvements in the game’s functionality, scope, and scenario settings.

With the unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the aviation industry, IATA quickly opted to upgrade its training capabilities and was one of the first organizations in the industry to start offering virtual classroom trainings. The new Air Mercury is accessible online and provides several new features specifically designed to adapt to the new realities of the COVID-affected industry.

In addition to being accessible online from anywhere in the world, the new Air Mercury is designed to adapt to different customer needs and market scenarios, and offers the following key customer benefits:

• Build teamwork and group decision making capabilities in a short and stressful period of time
• Develop cross-functional appreciation of the role and contribution of each commercial function
• Improve knowledge through a series of risk-free trial-and-error decisions and resulting P&L impact
• Understand the impact of changes in market dynamics and competitor response on Airline KPIs
• Recognize the value and impact of aircraft selection and network design on load factor and yield
• Ascertain the effect of different pricing strategies on building market share and route profitability

The most prominent additional new feature of the game is the introduction of connecting traffic in the simulation parameters. The simulation incorporates significant real-life constraints, such as the flight time limitations for the crew, airport operating hours, overbooking, and denied boarding and aircraft utilization time constraints to name a few.

The simulation enhances the learning experience for the participants where they can exercise their newly acquired knowledge into various day-to-day business scenarios. Gamification also helps bridge the generational gap, and makes learning a fun experience as participants get to explore the challenging environment of airline management.   

We invite you to take a look at the IATA training offering, and enjoy special pricing offered to SPs.