Mobile air ticket sales to hit GDS – study
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Increased investment in mobile solutions will drive airlines’ direct sales over the next three years, a new study has found.
In its latest Airline Business IT Trends Survey, aviation IT specialist SITA revealed that 97% of airlines are now investing, or planning to invest, in mobile solutions, and that by 2016 90% airlines plan to sell tickets via smartphones. This is expected to lead to a surge in mobile sales, from 3% of total sales today to 10% by 2016, with a total value of more than US$70 billion.
But the growth of mobile channels is expected to have a negative impact on GDS sales. According to SITA, indirect sales through the GDS will decline from 46% to just 33% of total sales over the next three years.
“Mobile’s dominant role is clear. Airlines continue to focus on services available via the airline website, such as flight search and check-in. But in an effort to differentiate passenger services a new battleground of mobile functionality is emerging. The result will be a much deeper integration of personalised mobile services at every step of the journey for passengers on the move,” said SITA’s CEO, Francesco Violante.
Currently, 61% of carriers have check-in apps, 65% offer mobile flight searches and 53% offer mobile boarding passes. Over the coming years however, SITA claims the focus for airlines will shift to new services, such as missing bag reporting (60% of airlines), re-booking (63%), and customer feedback (57%).
In fact, 100% of airlines polled said they would invest in some kind of new business intelligence solutions in the next three years. This marks a significant jump from last year’s study, when 80% of airlines said they were planning an IT investment.
“All airlines are investing in business intelligence to improve their operations and boost revenues,” said Violante. “Nearly three quarters of airlines rate business intelligence for sales and marketing as a high priority. The airlines’ investment plans show the future of the industry is smarter, more mobile and more personal.”
The Airline IT Trends Survey is an independent poll of senior IT personnel working within the world’s top 200 passenger carriers.
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