British Airways’ complete inventory and route network has moved onto the Amadeus Altéa Plan next generation inventory management system.
The system, which BA helped to design, has become the heart of the day-to-day operations of the airline, handling 38 million customers a year.
The managed service gives the airline control over its inventory and seat planning, providing the tools to maximise the yield on every seat, according to Amadeus.
Altéa Plan manages 673,000 individual flight/date inventories on a rolling, yearly basis for BA – more than 2,000 flights a day. The switch took five months in the biggest overhaul of the airline’s internal infrastructure in 20 years.
BA joins partner Qantas, which has been running Altéa Plan since September 2004, and more than 20 other airlines using the system.
BA’s chief information officer Paul Coby said: “Together with Amadeus and Qantas, we have designed the industry’s first new generation inventory management system. Altéa Plan gives us the ability to handle the most sophisticated revenue management techniques available today, while at the same time improving the cost-efficiency of our internal processes.
“The Amadeus inventory and reservations systems are at the heart of our day-to-day operations. All our revenue flows through these systems, and our profitability is decided by how effectively the inventory and yield management system work.”
Report by Phil Davies
