Travelport launches app to monetise ancillary revs of airlines

Aiming to help airlines better manage services and increase ancillary revenues, distribution services and e-commerce provider Travelport has launched its application Smartpoint in India.
The application, which has 110,000 users globally, is at present being tested with 100 travel agents in India.
"The app will help in increasing options for airlines and travel agents to monetise profits by offering consumers more services from a single point like hotels, transport, travel and medical insurance, WiFi etc," InterGlobe Technology Quotient (ITQ) President and CEO Anil Parashar told PTI.
ITQ, a unit of aviation, hospitality and travel related services firm InterGlobe Enterprises, is official distributor of Travelport Galileo in India and Sri Lanka and Travelport Worldspan, through Calleo Distribution Technologies in five markets across the Asia Pacific region.

Smartpoint provides a single global access point to travel agents to check for flight bookings as well as other services connected with air travel, thus aiding airlines boost their ancillary revenues, he added.
Travelport Smartpoint evolves the Galileo Desktop with interactive technology to facilitate merchandising and upselling for ancillary services, which usually contribute 6-8 per cent of revenues of full fare airlines and 10-11 per cent of low cost carriers (LCC), Parashar said.

"Ancillary services can help airlines tied over their costs and losses. The global market for such services is estimated at about USD 43 billion last year," he added.

Ancillary services are costs on excess baggage, in-flight meals, special seats, insurance, cab bookings, etc.
The success of the app is its ability to offer users a blend of graphical and cryptic user interaction alongside a range of time-saving features like improving the agent user experience, reducing training costs and speeding reservation process, Parashra said.
"This technology is expected to save training time since it can be used by agents who are familiar with any GDS (global distribution system), he added.
Every travel agent in India on GDS can benefit from this, he said, adding that India has around 2,500 IATA-accredited travel agents and over 20,000 non-accredited.

Customer trends across India indicate that people are willing to pay more for better service and efficiency and self-indulge when booking their travel, Parashar added.
TMP includes sophisticated travel sales and marketing retailing capabilities that allow airlines to promote products and services to the right buyers, at the right time, in the right place, he said.
On the prospects of the app, he said with rising middle class and increasing income levels, air travel is set to rise.
For the period 2013-32, aircraft manufacturer Airbus has raised its production list from 1,045 planes to 1,290, while Boeing has raised it from 1,450 to 1,600 for the same period, indicating a growing preference for air travel.