Call to deliver more value for air travellers

DUBLIN: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has called on all partners and stakeholders involved in passenger travel to work together to deliver greater value to passengers.

"Aviation makes possible $2.2 trillion worth of economic activity and supports some 57 million jobs around the globe. Every day more than eight million passengers take advantage of the safety, speed and convenience of air travel; and airfares are one-third lower, in real terms, than they were 20 years ago. It truly is the mass transit system for the global economy.

But our customers expect more. By working together as an industry with a common vision we can deliver even greater value to air travellers," said IATA Director General and CEO, Tony Tyler, at the opening of the World Passenger Symposium in Dublin.

"Our passengers are focused on value and their expectations are high and rising.

That means we must continuously examine, modernise and evolve our offering. The goal is to ensure that what we see as 'service' actually means 'value' to our customers," he said.

Tyler focused on two areas where the industry can add greater value to the trip experience: How customers shop for air travel and how they get through airports and stay connected to travel suppliers.

"Shopping for air travel is changing. Flying is more than just a seat on a plane. An air ticket has become a product with multiple attributes that may include in-flight wi-fi, extra leg-room, lounge access and much more.

"And the reality is that it is much easier to access these value-added services through an airline website than through the travel agents who account for 60% of sales.

"This gap exists because distribution through travel agents is built on pre-Internet messaging standards. These don't have the same capabilities as XML, the language of Internet-based commerce," said Tyler.

"IATA is working with our travel agent and travel technology partners to close that gap through the New Distribution Capability (NDC). While global distribution system (GDS) companies are moving to make it possible for airlines to merchandise their products in a manner more consistent with airlines' own websites, each is developing its own proprietary solution. NDC will be an open standard available to any and all who want to use it," he said.

NDC also responds to passenger demand for customisation and personalisation. According to IATA's 2013 Global Passenger Survey, almost one-half of travellers are interested in sharing such things as travel preferences, age, interest, hobbies and frequent flyer status to receive products and services from airlines tailored to their needs; and a fifth would share their social media profile as well.