Sabre
Airline Solutions has announced that Air China has signed a $15 million USD agreement for Sabre to
implement a modern Flight Operations Control Center.The project, Air China’s largest of this kind with a foreign
partner, will help it attain better aircraft utilization and fuel
efficiency. The system will also automate the management of over 6,000
cabin and cockpit crew in a way that is both efficient for the airline
and desirable to the crew.
  Sabre will provide Air China with its Sabre AirOps Suite
including Sabre Movement Manager, Sabre Dispatch Manager,
Sabre Load Manager; and Sabre AirCrews Crew Management Suite.
Sabre’s airline consulting practice will play a major role in using
deep industry expertise to implement the technology solution.
  “This is a business project that is focused on Air China reaching
new levels of operational excellence. Air China already serves 106
destinations in 22 countries. As we expand our fleet and crew over the
next two years, it will be critical for us to manage our operations
using integrated scalable technology in combination with solid
business processes. This is what Sabre will do with us,” said Zhu Song
Yan, general manager of IT, Air China.
  “Our operations centre will be of the world’s best, as we prepare
for the Beijing Olympics and beyond.”
  The Flight Operations Control Center is the heart of an airline’s
daily operations. This integrated center coordinates the day-to-day,
minute-to-minute operation of the airline, providing a centralized,
real-time operational control and management of the airline’s overall
flight operation, including flight schedule, aircraft movement
control, dispatch, flight planning, weight and balance, crew
management and other aspects of flight coordination.
  Air China is not a new customer for Sabre, having earlier deployed
Sabre AirPrice systems and Sabre AirFlite Planning and
Scheduling Suite to optimize its flight scheduling and pricing
functions.
  “Air China is adopting the changes necessary to ensure it can
maintain and improve its on-time performance even as the carrier
becomes larger and more complex. With this project, Air China will
have all the necessary real-time information and decision support
tools for the management of disruptions due to bad weather, for
example. This means Air China passengers can look forward to minimal
inconveniences in the event of unavoidable flight cancellations or
delays,” said Andrew Powell, regional vice president, Sabre Airline
Solutions.
  Sabre Airline Solutions also provides integrated flight operations
solutions to China Southern and China Eastern.
  At the completion of this project, 89% of all mainland Chinese
flights will be planned using Sabre software, and 82% of all mainland
Chinese flights will be managed operationally, using Sabre software—
the result of Sabre’s 10-year relationship with Chinese airlines.
——-