Wirraway
3rd Jun 2004, 14:04
Fri "Sydney Morning Herald"
Virgin Blue wants international ticket link
By Scott Rochfort
June 4, 2004
Virgin Blue is looking to improve its booking system software in an attempt to snare a greater share of the lucrative inbound international tourist market.
The budget airline now has a no-frills system that renders its information technology systems incompatible with international airlines.
The Navitaire Open Skies software platform prohibits Virgin from booking international passengers automatically onto its domestic services on the same boarding pass.
Unlike systems for full-service carriers such as Qantas, the Open Skies system is designed to book passengers only on point-to-point flights, characteristic of low-cost airlines.
Between 15 and 20 per cent of Qantas's domestic traffic is derived from "interline" traffic from overseas and Virgin has largely missed out on this slice of the domestic aviation pie.
Of about 40 international airlines servicing Australia, Virgin so far has developed a code share arrangement only with United Airlines. But even then, incoming passengers have to re-check baggage on Virgin flights.
Navitaire said all that could change later this year, confirming Virgin Blue had approached the software company in Salt Lake City to upgrade the Open Skies system so it could communicate with other airlines.
"All we're doing is enhancing the current functionality," said Navitaire's account manager for Virgin, John Aitken.
Under the new system, which will link to the central reservation systems of other airlines, Mr Aitken said the Virgin system would be able to "link itself to other airlines".
Virgin, however, said it would not pay any extra for the enhanced Open Skies system, which has been dubbed by some as the Greyhound bus system of the skies.
"We will look at any product that will not raise the cost to our core customer base.
"The moment they raise the cost ... we'll walk away," Virgin's head of strategy, David Huttner, said.
Given Virgin's network of 21 Australian destinations and recent entry across the Tasman with its Pacific Blue subsidiary, Virgin appears to have grown beyond being a simple point-to-point carrier.
Yet Mr Huttner said the Open Skies system was adequate to handle Virgin's needs, and the airline would code-share with other airlines only if they did business "our way".
"We're religious [in saying], we're not going to stuff up our core airline to get that bit of business," he said.
Other airlines which use Open Skies include Qantas subsidiary Jetstar and the Irish low-cost carrier, Ryanair.
Despite Virgin hosing down talk that it wanted to connect with more international airlines, in a press release the airline said it had "broken" a Qantas monopoly of the international inbound market.
The airline boasted that its inbound sales had risen by 243 per cent in the past year.
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Fri "The Australian"
Foreign travellers fill Virgin coffers
By Steve Creedy
June 04, 2004
VIRGIN Blue has reported a 243 per cent leap in international inbound sales over the past year after a good response from Europe and the US to its limited role in the Sabre and Galileo booking systems.
The airline said yesterday, inbound business accounted for more than 10 per cent of its $1.8 billion turnover.
"While we had a pretty good year in 2003 with 75 per cent revenue growth from international markets, today's result of more than 200 per cent growth shows that our commitment to offering a real alternative to Qantas on inbound business is paying off," Virgin global sales manager Jon Marshall said.
"We made a conscious decision to break the dominance that our competitor has had on the inbound market by providing a genuine alternative for carriers outside Oneworld as well as our international travel-trade partners."
Virgin said growth came from the US and British markets because of travellers' familiarity with the low-cost carrier model.
While it attracted so-called free and independent traveller traffic, such as backpackers, it only began linking in with the major global distribution systems last year.
Virgin deals only with travel agents who charge fees for their services so that the move pays for itself, according to Virgin head of communication and strategy David Huttner.
"We're now starting to get the stuff that's more controlled by the tour operators," Mr Huttner said.
"So major groups like Austravel in the UK, who are the volume tourism bookers, are booking us."
Mr Huttner said even a small Virgin share of the international market would "keep Qantas honest".
Virgin plans to continue building its international business, with products such as a "Blue pass" available only to international travellers.
The fares are available through the international travel trade for set one-way sector fares, are valid for 12 months and can be combined with flight itineraries from any international carrier.
============================================
Virgin Blue wants international ticket link
By Scott Rochfort
June 4, 2004
Virgin Blue is looking to improve its booking system software in an attempt to snare a greater share of the lucrative inbound international tourist market.
The budget airline now has a no-frills system that renders its information technology systems incompatible with international airlines.
The Navitaire Open Skies software platform prohibits Virgin from booking international passengers automatically onto its domestic services on the same boarding pass.
Unlike systems for full-service carriers such as Qantas, the Open Skies system is designed to book passengers only on point-to-point flights, characteristic of low-cost airlines.
Between 15 and 20 per cent of Qantas's domestic traffic is derived from "interline" traffic from overseas and Virgin has largely missed out on this slice of the domestic aviation pie.
Of about 40 international airlines servicing Australia, Virgin so far has developed a code share arrangement only with United Airlines. But even then, incoming passengers have to re-check baggage on Virgin flights.
Navitaire said all that could change later this year, confirming Virgin Blue had approached the software company in Salt Lake City to upgrade the Open Skies system so it could communicate with other airlines.
"All we're doing is enhancing the current functionality," said Navitaire's account manager for Virgin, John Aitken.
Under the new system, which will link to the central reservation systems of other airlines, Mr Aitken said the Virgin system would be able to "link itself to other airlines".
Virgin, however, said it would not pay any extra for the enhanced Open Skies system, which has been dubbed by some as the Greyhound bus system of the skies.
"We will look at any product that will not raise the cost to our core customer base.
"The moment they raise the cost ... we'll walk away," Virgin's head of strategy, David Huttner, said.
Given Virgin's network of 21 Australian destinations and recent entry across the Tasman with its Pacific Blue subsidiary, Virgin appears to have grown beyond being a simple point-to-point carrier.
Yet Mr Huttner said the Open Skies system was adequate to handle Virgin's needs, and the airline would code-share with other airlines only if they did business "our way".
"We're religious [in saying], we're not going to stuff up our core airline to get that bit of business," he said.
Other airlines which use Open Skies include Qantas subsidiary Jetstar and the Irish low-cost carrier, Ryanair.
Despite Virgin hosing down talk that it wanted to connect with more international airlines, in a press release the airline said it had "broken" a Qantas monopoly of the international inbound market.
The airline boasted that its inbound sales had risen by 243 per cent in the past year.
========================================
Fri "The Australian"
Foreign travellers fill Virgin coffers
By Steve Creedy
June 04, 2004
VIRGIN Blue has reported a 243 per cent leap in international inbound sales over the past year after a good response from Europe and the US to its limited role in the Sabre and Galileo booking systems.
The airline said yesterday, inbound business accounted for more than 10 per cent of its $1.8 billion turnover.
"While we had a pretty good year in 2003 with 75 per cent revenue growth from international markets, today's result of more than 200 per cent growth shows that our commitment to offering a real alternative to Qantas on inbound business is paying off," Virgin global sales manager Jon Marshall said.
"We made a conscious decision to break the dominance that our competitor has had on the inbound market by providing a genuine alternative for carriers outside Oneworld as well as our international travel-trade partners."
Virgin said growth came from the US and British markets because of travellers' familiarity with the low-cost carrier model.
While it attracted so-called free and independent traveller traffic, such as backpackers, it only began linking in with the major global distribution systems last year.
Virgin deals only with travel agents who charge fees for their services so that the move pays for itself, according to Virgin head of communication and strategy David Huttner.
"We're now starting to get the stuff that's more controlled by the tour operators," Mr Huttner said.
"So major groups like Austravel in the UK, who are the volume tourism bookers, are booking us."
Mr Huttner said even a small Virgin share of the international market would "keep Qantas honest".
Virgin plans to continue building its international business, with products such as a "Blue pass" available only to international travellers.
The fares are available through the international travel trade for set one-way sector fares, are valid for 12 months and can be combined with flight itineraries from any international carrier.
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