Changing a Passenger Services System or PSS is not small effort rightly so as it is a key operational system for airline and if it done properly it will have a significant impact to the airline business. Many airline management are also not IT inclined and often view it as a unnecessary undertaking with unknown business risk and cost as such prefer not consider unless necessarily.

However, airline PSS cost can be significant and in some of the contracts which may be bundled this could mean that the airline may be indirectly paying for features that the airline don’t actually need or use. In other cases, airline may be forced to pay heavy add-ons or additional transactions that was not anticipated earlier on.

With modern technology switching PSS is not as difficult as it was previously as database can replicated remotely at highly regular intervals with highly efficient technology e.g, cloud so with two parallel systems operating it is a matter of switching off one system and turning on another. With PSS vendors hungry for business airlines consider reviewing their PSS contracts regularly.

Here are 3 reasons:

1.New Business Needs

Airline industry is an ever evolving industry with new opportunities and threat brought upon by Technology and Regularity systems. As such, you may have previously on a system with limited features and now looking to expand to new business such as selling ancillaries services and new distribution channels such as Online Portal, GDS or through airline merchandising portal via IATA New Distribution capability (NDC).

2.Cost

Your PSS contract may be negotiated years ago when your needs are simpler and when market place is different where there are a fewer online players or direct channels which are generating huge volume of transactions. As such you may have a pricing that have expensive add-ons and with inadequate excess transaction buffer as such you may need pay for costly add-ons such as new ancillary services and merchandising capabilities such as NDC which may needed later on or transaction costs which was not anticipated for previously.  Reviewing new contracts can help you better review your airline's operating costs, your business needs to avoid overpaying for add-ons and unanticipated transactions.  You may realize you could achieve a win-win scenario with a new and better system that allows you to generate customer service enhancements and achieve significantly lower cost and better handle future transactional growth.

3. Customer Service

If you are small and medium size airline you may be frustrated or unhappy of experiencing poor customer service from your current solution provider. Reviewing your PSS contract will not only keep your current vendor on your toes but also provide you with opportunity to find a new vendor that valued you and provide with new technologies to raise your service level, reliability and new functionalities.

In the next post I will discuss the criteria to consider when selecting your next airline PSS vendor.