Joint Report from TravelSky Airline Business Department and R&D Center
Recently, TravelSky first BSP EMD products (EMDS) – Change Within Same Booking Class, has won the IATA certification, with IATA official recognition that this system meet the international standards. At the World Passenger Transport Conference in Singapore, IATA issued this certificate to Air China and TravelSky. TravelSky became the fourth GDS company, after Amadeus, Axess, and Sabre, to win the certification. This indicates that besides 100% support of E-tickets distribution, TravelSky has finished the initial completion of R&D for the core system of global distribution with EMDS added-service, which is truly a revolutionary breakthrough.
EMD IATA standards defines that EMD will replace the existing paper miscellaneous charges order besides ticket, and the future e-carrier for airline additional services. Based on the association with ET, EMD can be divided into EMDA (with strong connection) and EMDS (with weak connection), with different underlying message transfer and bill status. Meanwhile, EMD can be divided, according to its tickets, as Airline Tickets EMD, BSP EMD, IEMD (Connected Journey EMD). Currently, based on Airline Tickets EMDS, BSP EMD (EMDS), Airline Ticket EMDA, BSP EMD (EMDA), IEMD, EMD system providers are focused on R&D of EMD core system. In May 2010, TravelSky launched its first Airline Ticket EMDS in Asia-Pacific region and then began to work on the design and development work of BSP EMD (EMDS) program. It worked with Air China, with reference to IATA BSP EMD certification process, and finally completed BSP EMD certification. On September 30, 2011, IATA made an official announcement of BSP EMD certification to TravelSky. On October 12, 2011, IATA issued the certificates to Air China and TravelSky.
In 2010, the additional services revenue of global civil aviation has reached 21.46B$, becoming an important part of the profits for foreign airlines.
With the saturation of civil aviation market, the additional services is accounting for an increasingly important portion year by year, which will lead a new business changes in aviation industry. However, because of the special circumstances in China, such as the living habits of Chinese, and reimbursement vouchers, the development of the additional services in China still has a long way to go. TravelSky is now working with Air China to explore the Chinese market for additional services. This certification provides technical support for Chinese airlines to implement global distribution of the additional services, gaining the market opportunities.
Under the joint cooperation between TravelSky Aviation Business Department, R&D Center and BSP Business Department and System Services Department in Accounting Centre, and close coordination with IATA and Air China, BSP EMD certification is completed successfully. In this one-month certification process, the relevant units and departments worked overtime, reflecting the high working capability and good spirit of cooperation. Additional services system is a comprehensive one that needs continuous building and enrichment. TravelSky will continue to provide system support on EMDA, BSP EMD (EMDA) and Connected Journey EMD.