Worldspan today announced that Emirates Airlines
has become the first airline in the Middle East to adopt its Rapid Reprice solution.Ê Worldspan Rapid Reprice is the world’s first fully automated solution that streamlines the airline ticket repricing process when itineraries change.
With each change to a travel itinerary - such as departure and arrival times, travel dates, classes and so on - tickets must be repriced, for possible reissue where required. Manually, this takes, on average, 32 minutes - but by using Rapid Reprice, airlines can slash this time to less than one minute, using approximately 10 keystrokes.

The industry-leading Rapid Reprice solution uses robust technology and accurate fares databases to compare the original itinerary with the revised one, calculating the new fare and any additional revenue collections, refunds, penalties or fees. Rapid Reprice links to a Worldspan-exclusive pricing engine and database that features 13 months of comprehensive historical fares and rules information.

The Rapid Reprice agreement follows Emirates’ adoption of Worldspan Fares and Pricing in early 2003, including Worldspan Power Products, a suite of leading low-fare search technologies. According to Obaid Bashrahil, Emirates’ manager of pricing and distribution, the relationship with Worldspan reflects Emirates’ continued investment in the technologies that best support their rapid expansion, focus on service quality and improve overall profitability.

“Worldspan and Emirates have a lot in common,” Mr Bashrahil said. “We both look to the future, constantly updating and enhancing our systems. Worldspan was the first to deploy an open system Fares and Pricing tool and Emirates chose Worldspan’s solution because it supported our regional reputation as an airline pioneer and leader. Since its swift integration into our reservations system, Worldspan Fares and Pricing has paid excellent operational dividends. Now, on our latest step along the technology road, Rapid Reprice will improve Emirates’ service quality and make an important revenue contribution.”

Martin Tyler-Bennett, Worldspan director - EMEAA, Airline Distribution Hosting and IT Solutions, said: “Airlines throughout the world are seeking new ways to lower costs and increase revenue. As the world’s first fully automated repricing tool, Rapid Reprice supports these efforts by enhancing accuracy, creating seamless transactions with the end customer and ensuring all relevant fees are calculated.”

With about one in six airline tickets (15%) estimated to be subject to itinerary changes, manual processing can result in inaccurate calculations, which can result in lost revenue for airlines. In 2003, Worldspan successfully processed more than 5.4 million Rapid Reprice transactions.

“The operational and financial gains for airlines are impressive. Emirates, as the look-ahead, go-ahead airline, will reap its share of these benefits. Airlines do not have to be Worldspan-hosted to use the solution,” said Tyler-Bennett.
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