Saudi Arabian Airlines (SAA) has completed its migration to the Amadeus network, giving the airline access to Altéa Customer Management System and core components of the Amadeus e-Commerce suite.

Since registering with the travel technology partner the airline has registered a significant increase in bookings, with online sales now representing over 20 per cent of total bookings.

Muhammad Albakri, vice president for IT at SAA, commented: “The joint SAA and Amadeus team worked tirelessly to ensure the migration was completed successfully.

“The new systems provide a completely new, fully integrated IT architecture to run our operations.

“We have already begun to reap the rewards of our investment with booking levels rising far more quickly than usual at this time of year.

The introduction of next-generation technology systems is part of a modernisation programme aimed at both improving the passenger experience and enhancing operational efficiency at SAA.

The Altéa CMS replaces the Saudi Arabian Airlines’ legacy IT platform that has served the airline for twenty years.

“By adopting the state-of-the-art e-Commerce booking and servicing engine we are able to radically improve our web presence and drive increased international growth,” added Mr Albakri.

“Following these migrations we can now deliver on our commitment to transform the traveller experience.

“The unique features being introduced are to better serve our customers and ease the effort of preparing their travel.”

Julia Sattel, vice president airline IT, Amadeus said: “The implementation of the new systems for SAA was an impressive achievement and is the result of a solid partnership.

“The switch from legacy systems to a scalable and robust IT environment has laid the foundation for SAA to modernise and support its growth both within the Middle East and internationally.

“In one of the most dynamic regions in the world, it is vital that airlines have a technology backbone that is flexible and agile enough to meet the demands of changing commercial strategies.”

During crossover 3.2 million tickets, 1.3million passenger name records and 1.3 million frequent flyer profiles were moved to the new system.

The Amadeus Reservation Desktop application was installed on over 3,000 PCs at over 500 office locations worldwide and over 3,800 employees were trained on the new applications and processes.

In addition, a large scale integration programme was undertaken to link Saudi Arabian Airline’s new systems to its other applications as well as to over 70 airline partners for e-Ticketing.