Galileo International has announced the launch in the EMEA region of Galileo 360å¼  Fares, the next phase of a multi-tiered plan to replace GlobalFaresa. 
Galileo

360¼ Fares - which consists of Agency Private Fares, Airline Private Fares and soon Airline Public Fares outside of North America- signals the end of manual fare loading, and positions Galileo as the first GDS to be able to offer the full suite of private fares wholly outside of the TPF environment. A multi-million dollar investment into this groundbreaking fares offering delivers the most accurate and comprehensive faring system in the industry today.

As part of an overall effort to completely automate fares loading, Galileo`s 360¼ Fares will be released to the market in 3 phases, with the overall solution providing significant benefits:

á    A web-based GUI automates an agency`s complete private fares information

á    Full rule validation and a fully integrated display

á    No manual coding for Airline Private Fares

á    More accurate data entry

á    Significantly fewer Agent Debit Memos (ADMs)

á    Fares are quicker to market - allowing agencies to be more efficient, more competitive

The first of these phases saw Agency Private Fares launched in April of this year. This allows agents to load private fares, existing fare contracts and all associated rules directly onto the Galileo database via a web based GUI. Within hours of doing this all agency staff will have full access to the latest private fares alongside the public and airline fares on a single screen, confident that all rule conditions have been fully validated by the Galileo 360¡ Fares database, and that they are selling the most appropriate fares for the itinerary booked.

Airline Private Fares, which will be available from the end of June, enables airlines to file fare data to Galileo customers using more automated Airline Tariff Publishing Company (ATPCo) categories than any other GDS, including Fare by Rule `Category 25` and Negotiated Fares `Category 35` fares. This new solution allows for the latest fare data to be available for fare display and quote at the travel agency within a couple of hours of the airline originally posting them with ATPCo. The data filed by the airlines, and transmitted from ATPCo to Galileo is received completely electronically, removing the need for any manual intervention, and so minimising errors including ADMs.

“This is a true industry first,” commented Jonathan Siddons, vice president, Product Marketing and Development, for Galileo`s EMEA region “We are continually looking for ways to improve how we manage and deliver content. Working closely with our airline and agency partners, we are now able to deliver a suite of fares solutions that considerably improves accuracy and speed of fare data. Galileo focused first on private or negotiated fares since it is this area of the pricing mix that has seen, and continues to see, exponential growth. We took the decision to develop what is seen as the more complex functionality first, as this is what our customers required most.”

 

Airline Public Fares, which completes the 360¡ Fares solution, will conclude the full automation of the fares process, with airlines able to provide published fares via ATPCo into the Galileo database. A release date for this final part of our fares suite will be announced shortly.

Galileo`s 360¡ Fares programme is an initiative that directly answers the demands of both the travel agent and the airline. The two key drivers are accuracy of data and speed of availability or distribution. “This latest enhancement to our Fares product is the result of our strategic use of open architecture,” said Jonathan Siddons. “These solutions and the technology behind it are critical to the future of the industry and give us a strong competitive advantage. It is clear that we are positioned to rapidly support today`s ever changing marketplace and continue to drive costs out of our customers` business whilst adding real value.”

Galileo`s 360¡ Fares programme also offers many benefits to airlines enabling them to be more responsive and provide more robust support of their pricing and market planning programmes.  Further, Galileo 360¡ Fares can reduce airline costs by streamlining the fare filing process as well as increasing fare integrity.

Galileo 360¡ Fares is also available in Latin America.  In the U.S. and Canada, Galileo 360¡ Fares is available for North American itineraries. Agency Private Fares will be deployed in The Americas in the third quarter.

 

Related stories on ITN:

(16/05/2003) Galileo Launches Web Services Platform

(08/05/2003) Alamo Rent-A-Car & National Car Rental Upgrade to Galileo

(02/05/2003) Galileo Acquires Malaysian GDS Business
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