How S7 was the first in Russia to sell airline tickets online
Today we will talk about how online sales work at S7 Airlines, which was the first in Russia to launch purchasing tickets online. In our article, we will dwell in detail on how our site and related information systems work, as well as share the experience of all the stages that we went through to make user journey comfortable and varied.
Now passengers do everything via the Internet: using the website or application, they find tickets, compare options and prices, book flights for money or miles, and also purchase additional options, such as improved seats, a rental car or a hotel. About 30 hours before departure, they can already check in for a flight, choose a seat, get a boarding pass - and all this online. The site or application becomes the starting point for the user. And although everything looks simple from the outside, inside the system consists of many interconnected components.
All passenger data (or PNR, Passenger Name Record) is stored and processed in PSS (Passenger Service System). Without it, no airline can exist, since this complex information system of many modules serves the user at various stages of his journey. Perhaps the most important part of the PSS is the computer reservation system (CRS, Computer Reservation System). This system searches for available flights using the specified filters and creates the reservations themselves (that is, records of passenger data and their flights). Such CRS systems created the current version of the PSS, consisting of many subsystems, for example, the inventory (Inventory Management System), which contains information about the number of seats, or the Departure Control System (DCS), which is responsible for registering for flights, issuing boarding passes, baggage claim and boarding.
In 1946, American Airlines created the first automated reservation system, analogues of which were developed by other airlines in the following decades. Of course, at the very beginning, each company tried to come up with its own solution and build its own infrastructure. But they all consisted of two main systems: a host computer that stores all the data, and entry points (terminals) through which airline employees, and later independent agents, requested information. Subsequently, the air carriers themselves created companies specializing in providing IT solutions specifically for their colleagues. Today, remote solutions and servers for storing PNR and other data are often used as PSS.
In 1972, the USSR launched the Siren system for booking airline tickets (Airline Reservation System). The first version worked for 10 years, until in 1982 an improved version of “Siren-2” appeared. This version was used in Siberia Airlines, which arose in 1992 on the basis of the Tolmachevsky combined air squad. Due to the collapse of the USSR, the project to create an updated Siren-3, launched into production in the late 1980s, never saw the light of day. Modernization of "Siren-2" began to engage in several teams of developers, and she appeared several "forks". One of them was Siren-2.3, which was developed by ZAO TAIS. It was she who became the first PSS "Siberia", working on our own servers.
Unfortunately, Siren 2.3 pretty soon ceased to meet our growing expectations. Therefore, at the beginning of the 2000s, we entered into an agreement with the international company SITA on the use of its PSS “Gabriel”. SITA was founded by several European airlines in 1949 to combine efforts to create telecommunication networks for civil aviation, and later expanded to other areas of technological support, including the creation of IT solutions. Our gradual transition from Siren 2.3 to SITA Gabriel continued throughout the first half of the zero.
The new improved system for the first time allowed us to think about selling tickets online, since Siren 2.3 could not do this. Our site s7.ru appeared back in 1998, but was completely informational. On it it was possible to find out the schedule, numbers of the call center on reservation issues. But it was possible to buy a ticket only through a representative office of the company or with a commission from independent agents who had access to our CRS. Thanks to the transition to SITA, Gabriel finally became able to sell airline tickets over the Internet, and in 2004 we were the first to open online sales among all Russian airlines.
On the site, the buyer interacts with our information systems through the Internet booking engine (IBE, Internet Booking Engine). It looks like an online store engine, but is tailored to the needs of airlines. Using a simple and intuitive interface, IBE converts user requests into data for CRS and other systems. It is also integrated with many services, such as credit card processing or GDS (we will talk about global distribution systems below).
By clicking the “buy a ticket” button, the user switches from the information part of the site to the engine interface. As with regular online stores, IBE can work both on the company's web servers and on the server of the PSS provider, being part of the PSS package, which is now much more popular. Airlines usually create their IBEs from scratch, or more often they use ready-made IT platforms. As you might guess, the functionality, usability and customization of various engines can vary greatly.
Our first IBE was iTravelDirect all from the same SITA. Initially, the engine was very simple and was able to independently issue only simple reservations for domestic flights on short routes and the simplest fares. IBE contacted CRS, calculated the final cost, made a reservation and issued a bill to the passenger for payment, which he could pay with a card here on the site. If the entered user request was too complex, an operator request was automatically generated. The employee opened the order, entered the data into the reservation system on his own, did all the necessary operations, calculated the cost, created the reservation, and entered the necessary data into the online order. A notification of the readiness of the order was sent to the passenger, after which he checked it on the site and, if everything was fine, then paid. If something had to be changed, he called the operator and additional changes were made through him. The engine was constantly being developed and over time learned to make more complex calculations and armor.
An analysis conducted in 2006 confirmed that we correctly chose e-commerce as the main vector of development. Sales through the site turned out to be much more profitable than sales through operators and independent agents. But, unfortunately, they have not yet enjoyed popularity and accounted for only 5% percent of total sales. Therefore, the commercial management introduced special web-tariffs, which, as the name implies, could not be issued either through the call center or through agents. Prices at these tariffs started from 300 rubles. The demand was so crazy that already in the second week I had to raise the minimum price to 900 rubles. Thanks to these tariffs, online sales have increased from 5% to 20%.
Web rates persisted until 2012. They had certain restrictions, for example, in directions or by time of departure, and were adjusted depending on our need. For example, we often used them to “reload” poorly sold flights.
Of course, another important limitation is worth mentioning. For the flight, it was still legislatively required to present a paper ticket, which somehow had to be handed over to the passenger. For this, the PTA (Prepaid Ticket Advance) scheme was used, when a prepaid ticket could be issued later and not at the place of purchase. You could get a ticket from a company representative right before departure, but this is not at all airports, or check in at our office in your city. Otherwise, the passenger simply could not get a ticket in his hands. All these inconveniences, to put it mildly, greatly impeded the growing popularity of online reservations.
The decisive moment was the introduction by the airlines of the Ministry of Transport into the legislation of the definition of an electronic ticket, which happened in 2007. Now the passenger could get his hands on a ready, fully paid and issued ticket online. Then it was possible to move away from all schemes with PTA, and the development of e-commerce was now impossible to stop.
In 2008, we first got web checkin (WCI, web check-in), self check-in for a flight. At first, passengers mainly used it at special kiosks at the airport (the so-called CUSS, common-use self-service). They used the application of the French company IER, which was a terminal emulator for connecting to the Gabriel PSS interface. Then we tried to make an online check-in on the site, but for some reason it worked poorly, and passengers rarely used it. And it should be noted that at first, airports were also suspicious of self-registration.
In the same 2008, we had our own e-commerce department, and we began to search for a new solution for our IBE. SITA's iTravelDirect platform has ceased to suit us due to the many restrictions and inability to grow at our pace. After reviewing many options, we entered into an agreement with the company
EB2 International Ltd, which was developing a new solution for QuickTRIP airlines.
EB2 was a young and fast-growing company, and already with a good reputation (they worked with Brussels Airlines or Air Malta). The office itself was in London, and the developers were in the Philippines, so the prices were very competitive, but they responded to any comments and requirements instantly. Their system was a very powerful solution, one might say one of the best, with great opportunities for customization. Based on QuickTRIP, we began our trial and error path, that is, building our own engine. Soon, other Russian airlines, such as Transaero, noticed EB2 and also switched to their engine.
Alas, EB2 suffered the fate of many young and progressive companies: they were bought by a large American corporation Saber. In December 2008, Saber absorbed EB2, after which it became more difficult to work on this engine. We could no longer communicate directly with developers, but only through the head office. Development speed fell, updates began to come out less often, and it took too long to wait for some corrections and new functions.
But despite all the difficulties, we tirelessly improved the site. At the same time, noting the growing popularity of smartphones, in 2009 we launched a mobile version of the site, and in 2010 the first application for the iPhone (while mobile applications worked on the same Internet engine via the API).
In 2010, we launched a call center under the management of an e-commerce department. And thanks to this, IBEs based on the EB2 QuickTRIP system were able to adapt to the high season. Work in the reservation system requires special skills from people. In early CRS, queries and commands were entered into the command line that followed some syntax. Graphical interfaces later appeared, but they also required prior training. Often we took students for a high season to work part-time, but it was almost impossible to teach them all the nuances in a short period. Therefore, we finalized the engine, teaching it to determine the employees of the call center, and after that to give them additional functionality. Otherwise, the interface was the same, and students could fulfill most of the requests of called customers, even without all the skills to work with the system.
Then in 2010, we added some more important functions to the site interface. The first was the ability to manage reservations from your personal account. Now, passengers, visiting the site, immediately saw the list and status of all their future flights. This MYB (Manage your booking) functionality saved us from a huge number of calls. At first, the functionality was quite simple, such as the ability to download a route receipt, but then more complex tasks appeared, for example, making changes to the booking itself (provided that the tariff allows it).
In 2011, we made the first full-scale redesign of the site and presented new options, one of which was selling extra baggage on the site (it had to be checked in at the airport before). For our employees, we added staff-ticketing functionality, automation of airline ticket sales flying for personal purposes (for this we have special standby tariffs, when you can use any of our flights for a small surcharge, if there are still free seats). In September 2011, our own web-based check-in system was launched, which has become much more convenient and functional.
Despite many achievements, we decided to start cooperation with the new Irish developer in the field of aviation IT solutions OpenJaw Technologies. And we gradually began the transition to the t-Retail platform. The first step was the integration of t-Retail with the current engine based on EB2 with the aim of selling special stages (“special stages”, English ancillaries) - these are additional services that are offered to the passenger on the website at the same time as buying tickets, and are another source of income. This can be the services of other companies with which a commission is taken (car rental, hotels, train tickets or various insurance) and our own services for a fee (upgrade, armchairs with extra legroom, special meals, extra baggage or seat selection ) At the final stage of the reservation, the EB2 engine dynamically substituted the generated t-Retail offers with dopas on the page, the passenger went to OpenJaw by diplink and bought something there. After this, the sales of special stages really rose well.
We did an update for the application on the iPhone and added integration with Apple Wallet. Throughout 2013, work was underway on IBE 2.0, a completely new engine based on OpenJaw. And the transition to Google ITA as a provider of search solutions has become here for us one of the key decisions. Google ITA is a very strong solution for buying airline tickets and special stages. It avoided many past problems, for example, caching the availability of booking codes at a particular cost. That is, it happened that the price of the tariff was lower due to a certain tariff, and at the final stage the user saw a higher price and began to think that we were deceiving him. In addition, ITA was well integrated with OneWorld alliance partners and with other airlines with which we had SPA agreements (Special Prorate Agreement). This is a special agreement between the companies, giving the passenger the opportunity to issue a flight on one form with several airlines at a special rate agreed by them. Thanks to this, we began to sell segments of other carriers, and passengers were able to book really difficult routes through us, which gave us good sales growth.
The IBE 2.0 engine was launched in 2014, opening new functionality on the site. At that time, we already had the S7 Priority loyalty program, and the new engine had its own RBE (Redemption Booking Engine), which allows you to sell award tickets. In fact, these are special tariffs, the currency of which is not rubles, but accumulated miles. The frequent flyer passenger loyalty program (FFP, Frequent flyer passenger) works simply - made a purchase or flew, received miles.
On our part, for the correct operation it is necessary to integrate several systems, and so that each has up-to-date information - a personal account on the site, the LMS (Loyalty management system, where the account information and FFP status is stored), PSS, where the ticket is purchased, DCS, confirming that the passenger really made the flight, LMS partner companies (if the passenger flew them). When issuing a ticket, the IBE must also know the status of the passenger in the LMS, since “elite” statuses give various privileges already at the booking stage.
We managed to significantly expand the range of additional services, launch the sale of seats and luggage on all platforms (mobile applications, booking management services and web check-in). In the same 2014, an Android application was launched. The share of online sales, which after the abolition of web tariffs fell to 19%, has now grown to 32%. In December 2015, we introduced a system of so-called branded fares. Brands are flight options in the same class, provided at different prices and with a different set of services included in the price (here we have the Basic / Basic and Flexible / Flex tariffs).
In 2016, RBE made another breakthrough for us, learning to sell award tickets not only for S7 flights, but also for flights of OneWorld partners. Gradually, all the add-ons were transferred to the new platform, the second large-scale redesign of the site with responsive design was launched.
But then the situation repeated 8 years ago, as in the case of EB2 and Saber, in 2016 OpenJaw was acquired by TravelSky, the Chinese state monopolist in IT services and solutions for the travel industry. After this takeover, OpenJaw began to invest all its efforts in Chinese projects, and they had almost no time left for us. Support for our IBE began to suffer, and in the end we made a difficult decision to develop our own Internet engine, tailored to our needs and not requiring third-party support.
The custom solution, called IBE 3.0, was written by our developers from scratch throughout 2016, and the complex and phased launch process began in April 2017.First, a new reservation engine was launched, then a reservation management system (MYB 3.0), then a platform for CCM 3.0 call center operators (Call-center manager), which allows them not only to sell, return and change tickets, but also to handle various difficult situations.
In November 2018, another important event happened for us - we changed PSS. SITA "Gabriel" ceased to suit us for many reasons, but the last straw was the global malfunction that occurred in June 2018, due to which our passengers could not register for flights for hours. In July, we signed an agreement to use the PSS Altéa of the European Amadeus IT Group.
Amadeus was founded in 1987 with the participation of several European airlines as a neutral GDS provider and an alternative to the American Saber. GDS (Global Distribution Systems) once appeared as aggregators for individual reservation systems (both airlines, hotels, car dealers and other service providers) to allow agents and partners to sell them. It was convenient, since no agent could conclude a contract with all suppliers, and no supplier could everywhere deploy his own distribution network such as ticket offices. GDS also allows the airline to promote services in other markets where it does not have representative offices, or in closed markets such as Chinese, which is only available through GDS TravelSky. Reservations created by GDS are then automatically copied to airline PSS. In addition to GDS,Amadeus presents various IT solutions for airlines, considered one of the best.
True, for our developers it was a rather painful decision, so I had to redo everything that was done in the previous 2 years. It was necessary to integrate the Internet engine with Amadeus, and the logical rules and business processes were changing. First, I had to redo the reservation system, then DCS (accordingly, rewrite the web check from scratch). Next year we are expected to move to CLS (customer loyalty management).
Now we are actively working to improve personalization for passengers (the ability to make individual offers based on their history of flights with us), the development of digital channels (chat, chat bots, ticket sales via FB) and other improvements to the current functionality and capabilities. In the spring of 2020, according to the plan, launch the expected partial payment by miles / money of tickets, which will be an additional challenge for IBE in terms of integration with the PSS reservation system and LMS loyalty system.
Now passengers do everything via the Internet: using the website or application, they find tickets, compare options and prices, book flights for money or miles, and also purchase additional options, such as improved seats, a rental car or a hotel. About 30 hours before departure, they can already check in for a flight, choose a seat, get a boarding pass - and all this online. The site or application becomes the starting point for the user. And although everything looks simple from the outside, inside the system consists of many interconnected components.
All passenger data (or PNR, Passenger Name Record) is stored and processed in PSS (Passenger Service System). Without it, no airline can exist, since this complex information system of many modules serves the user at various stages of his journey. Perhaps the most important part of the PSS is the computer reservation system (CRS, Computer Reservation System). This system searches for available flights using the specified filters and creates the reservations themselves (that is, records of passenger data and their flights). Such CRS systems created the current version of the PSS, consisting of many subsystems, for example, the inventory (Inventory Management System), which contains information about the number of seats, or the Departure Control System (DCS), which is responsible for registering for flights, issuing boarding passes, baggage claim and boarding.
In 1946, American Airlines created the first automated reservation system, analogues of which were developed by other airlines in the following decades. Of course, at the very beginning, each company tried to come up with its own solution and build its own infrastructure. But they all consisted of two main systems: a host computer that stores all the data, and entry points (terminals) through which airline employees, and later independent agents, requested information. Subsequently, the air carriers themselves created companies specializing in providing IT solutions specifically for their colleagues. Today, remote solutions and servers for storing PNR and other data are often used as PSS.
In 1972, the USSR launched the Siren system for booking airline tickets (Airline Reservation System). The first version worked for 10 years, until in 1982 an improved version of “Siren-2” appeared. This version was used in Siberia Airlines, which arose in 1992 on the basis of the Tolmachevsky combined air squad. Due to the collapse of the USSR, the project to create an updated Siren-3, launched into production in the late 1980s, never saw the light of day. Modernization of "Siren-2" began to engage in several teams of developers, and she appeared several "forks". One of them was Siren-2.3, which was developed by ZAO TAIS. It was she who became the first PSS "Siberia", working on our own servers.
Unfortunately, Siren 2.3 pretty soon ceased to meet our growing expectations. Therefore, at the beginning of the 2000s, we entered into an agreement with the international company SITA on the use of its PSS “Gabriel”. SITA was founded by several European airlines in 1949 to combine efforts to create telecommunication networks for civil aviation, and later expanded to other areas of technological support, including the creation of IT solutions. Our gradual transition from Siren 2.3 to SITA Gabriel continued throughout the first half of the zero.
The new improved system for the first time allowed us to think about selling tickets online, since Siren 2.3 could not do this. Our site s7.ru appeared back in 1998, but was completely informational. On it it was possible to find out the schedule, numbers of the call center on reservation issues. But it was possible to buy a ticket only through a representative office of the company or with a commission from independent agents who had access to our CRS. Thanks to the transition to SITA, Gabriel finally became able to sell airline tickets over the Internet, and in 2004 we were the first to open online sales among all Russian airlines.
On the site, the buyer interacts with our information systems through the Internet booking engine (IBE, Internet Booking Engine). It looks like an online store engine, but is tailored to the needs of airlines. Using a simple and intuitive interface, IBE converts user requests into data for CRS and other systems. It is also integrated with many services, such as credit card processing or GDS (we will talk about global distribution systems below).
By clicking the “buy a ticket” button, the user switches from the information part of the site to the engine interface. As with regular online stores, IBE can work both on the company's web servers and on the server of the PSS provider, being part of the PSS package, which is now much more popular. Airlines usually create their IBEs from scratch, or more often they use ready-made IT platforms. As you might guess, the functionality, usability and customization of various engines can vary greatly.
Our first IBE was iTravelDirect all from the same SITA. Initially, the engine was very simple and was able to independently issue only simple reservations for domestic flights on short routes and the simplest fares. IBE contacted CRS, calculated the final cost, made a reservation and issued a bill to the passenger for payment, which he could pay with a card here on the site. If the entered user request was too complex, an operator request was automatically generated. The employee opened the order, entered the data into the reservation system on his own, did all the necessary operations, calculated the cost, created the reservation, and entered the necessary data into the online order. A notification of the readiness of the order was sent to the passenger, after which he checked it on the site and, if everything was fine, then paid. If something had to be changed, he called the operator and additional changes were made through him. The engine was constantly being developed and over time learned to make more complex calculations and armor.
An analysis conducted in 2006 confirmed that we correctly chose e-commerce as the main vector of development. Sales through the site turned out to be much more profitable than sales through operators and independent agents. But, unfortunately, they have not yet enjoyed popularity and accounted for only 5% percent of total sales. Therefore, the commercial management introduced special web-tariffs, which, as the name implies, could not be issued either through the call center or through agents. Prices at these tariffs started from 300 rubles. The demand was so crazy that already in the second week I had to raise the minimum price to 900 rubles. Thanks to these tariffs, online sales have increased from 5% to 20%.
Web rates persisted until 2012. They had certain restrictions, for example, in directions or by time of departure, and were adjusted depending on our need. For example, we often used them to “reload” poorly sold flights.
Of course, another important limitation is worth mentioning. For the flight, it was still legislatively required to present a paper ticket, which somehow had to be handed over to the passenger. For this, the PTA (Prepaid Ticket Advance) scheme was used, when a prepaid ticket could be issued later and not at the place of purchase. You could get a ticket from a company representative right before departure, but this is not at all airports, or check in at our office in your city. Otherwise, the passenger simply could not get a ticket in his hands. All these inconveniences, to put it mildly, greatly impeded the growing popularity of online reservations.
The decisive moment was the introduction by the airlines of the Ministry of Transport into the legislation of the definition of an electronic ticket, which happened in 2007. Now the passenger could get his hands on a ready, fully paid and issued ticket online. Then it was possible to move away from all schemes with PTA, and the development of e-commerce was now impossible to stop.
In 2008, we first got web checkin (WCI, web check-in), self check-in for a flight. At first, passengers mainly used it at special kiosks at the airport (the so-called CUSS, common-use self-service). They used the application of the French company IER, which was a terminal emulator for connecting to the Gabriel PSS interface. Then we tried to make an online check-in on the site, but for some reason it worked poorly, and passengers rarely used it. And it should be noted that at first, airports were also suspicious of self-registration.
In the same 2008, we had our own e-commerce department, and we began to search for a new solution for our IBE. SITA's iTravelDirect platform has ceased to suit us due to the many restrictions and inability to grow at our pace. After reviewing many options, we entered into an agreement with the company
EB2 International Ltd, which was developing a new solution for QuickTRIP airlines.
EB2 was a young and fast-growing company, and already with a good reputation (they worked with Brussels Airlines or Air Malta). The office itself was in London, and the developers were in the Philippines, so the prices were very competitive, but they responded to any comments and requirements instantly. Their system was a very powerful solution, one might say one of the best, with great opportunities for customization. Based on QuickTRIP, we began our trial and error path, that is, building our own engine. Soon, other Russian airlines, such as Transaero, noticed EB2 and also switched to their engine.
Alas, EB2 suffered the fate of many young and progressive companies: they were bought by a large American corporation Saber. In December 2008, Saber absorbed EB2, after which it became more difficult to work on this engine. We could no longer communicate directly with developers, but only through the head office. Development speed fell, updates began to come out less often, and it took too long to wait for some corrections and new functions.
But despite all the difficulties, we tirelessly improved the site. At the same time, noting the growing popularity of smartphones, in 2009 we launched a mobile version of the site, and in 2010 the first application for the iPhone (while mobile applications worked on the same Internet engine via the API).
In 2010, we launched a call center under the management of an e-commerce department. And thanks to this, IBEs based on the EB2 QuickTRIP system were able to adapt to the high season. Work in the reservation system requires special skills from people. In early CRS, queries and commands were entered into the command line that followed some syntax. Graphical interfaces later appeared, but they also required prior training. Often we took students for a high season to work part-time, but it was almost impossible to teach them all the nuances in a short period. Therefore, we finalized the engine, teaching it to determine the employees of the call center, and after that to give them additional functionality. Otherwise, the interface was the same, and students could fulfill most of the requests of called customers, even without all the skills to work with the system.
Then in 2010, we added some more important functions to the site interface. The first was the ability to manage reservations from your personal account. Now, passengers, visiting the site, immediately saw the list and status of all their future flights. This MYB (Manage your booking) functionality saved us from a huge number of calls. At first, the functionality was quite simple, such as the ability to download a route receipt, but then more complex tasks appeared, for example, making changes to the booking itself (provided that the tariff allows it).
In 2011, we made the first full-scale redesign of the site and presented new options, one of which was selling extra baggage on the site (it had to be checked in at the airport before). For our employees, we added staff-ticketing functionality, automation of airline ticket sales flying for personal purposes (for this we have special standby tariffs, when you can use any of our flights for a small surcharge, if there are still free seats). In September 2011, our own web-based check-in system was launched, which has become much more convenient and functional.
Despite many achievements, we decided to start cooperation with the new Irish developer in the field of aviation IT solutions OpenJaw Technologies. And we gradually began the transition to the t-Retail platform. The first step was the integration of t-Retail with the current engine based on EB2 with the aim of selling special stages (“special stages”, English ancillaries) - these are additional services that are offered to the passenger on the website at the same time as buying tickets, and are another source of income. This can be the services of other companies with which a commission is taken (car rental, hotels, train tickets or various insurance) and our own services for a fee (upgrade, armchairs with extra legroom, special meals, extra baggage or seat selection ) At the final stage of the reservation, the EB2 engine dynamically substituted the generated t-Retail offers with dopas on the page, the passenger went to OpenJaw by diplink and bought something there. After this, the sales of special stages really rose well.
We did an update for the application on the iPhone and added integration with Apple Wallet. Throughout 2013, work was underway on IBE 2.0, a completely new engine based on OpenJaw. And the transition to Google ITA as a provider of search solutions has become here for us one of the key decisions. Google ITA is a very strong solution for buying airline tickets and special stages. It avoided many past problems, for example, caching the availability of booking codes at a particular cost. That is, it happened that the price of the tariff was lower due to a certain tariff, and at the final stage the user saw a higher price and began to think that we were deceiving him. In addition, ITA was well integrated with OneWorld alliance partners and with other airlines with which we had SPA agreements (Special Prorate Agreement). This is a special agreement between the companies, giving the passenger the opportunity to issue a flight on one form with several airlines at a special rate agreed by them. Thanks to this, we began to sell segments of other carriers, and passengers were able to book really difficult routes through us, which gave us good sales growth.
The IBE 2.0 engine was launched in 2014, opening new functionality on the site. At that time, we already had the S7 Priority loyalty program, and the new engine had its own RBE (Redemption Booking Engine), which allows you to sell award tickets. In fact, these are special tariffs, the currency of which is not rubles, but accumulated miles. The frequent flyer passenger loyalty program (FFP, Frequent flyer passenger) works simply - made a purchase or flew, received miles.
On our part, for the correct operation it is necessary to integrate several systems, and so that each has up-to-date information - a personal account on the site, the LMS (Loyalty management system, where the account information and FFP status is stored), PSS, where the ticket is purchased, DCS, confirming that the passenger really made the flight, LMS partner companies (if the passenger flew them). When issuing a ticket, the IBE must also know the status of the passenger in the LMS, since “elite” statuses give various privileges already at the booking stage.
We managed to significantly expand the range of additional services, launch the sale of seats and luggage on all platforms (mobile applications, booking management services and web check-in). In the same 2014, an Android application was launched. The share of online sales, which after the abolition of web tariffs fell to 19%, has now grown to 32%. In December 2015, we introduced a system of so-called branded fares. Brands are flight options in the same class, provided at different prices and with a different set of services included in the price (here we have the Basic / Basic and Flexible / Flex tariffs).
In 2016, RBE made another breakthrough for us, learning to sell award tickets not only for S7 flights, but also for flights of OneWorld partners. Gradually, all the add-ons were transferred to the new platform, the second large-scale redesign of the site with responsive design was launched.
But then the situation repeated 8 years ago, as in the case of EB2 and Saber, in 2016 OpenJaw was acquired by TravelSky, the Chinese state monopolist in IT services and solutions for the travel industry. After this takeover, OpenJaw began to invest all its efforts in Chinese projects, and they had almost no time left for us. Support for our IBE began to suffer, and in the end we made a difficult decision to develop our own Internet engine, tailored to our needs and not requiring third-party support.
The custom solution, called IBE 3.0, was written by our developers from scratch throughout 2016, and the complex and phased launch process began in April 2017.First, a new reservation engine was launched, then a reservation management system (MYB 3.0), then a platform for CCM 3.0 call center operators (Call-center manager), which allows them not only to sell, return and change tickets, but also to handle various difficult situations.
In November 2018, another important event happened for us - we changed PSS. SITA "Gabriel" ceased to suit us for many reasons, but the last straw was the global malfunction that occurred in June 2018, due to which our passengers could not register for flights for hours. In July, we signed an agreement to use the PSS Altéa of the European Amadeus IT Group.
Amadeus was founded in 1987 with the participation of several European airlines as a neutral GDS provider and an alternative to the American Saber. GDS (Global Distribution Systems) once appeared as aggregators for individual reservation systems (both airlines, hotels, car dealers and other service providers) to allow agents and partners to sell them. It was convenient, since no agent could conclude a contract with all suppliers, and no supplier could everywhere deploy his own distribution network such as ticket offices. GDS also allows the airline to promote services in other markets where it does not have representative offices, or in closed markets such as Chinese, which is only available through GDS TravelSky. Reservations created by GDS are then automatically copied to airline PSS. In addition to GDS,Amadeus presents various IT solutions for airlines, considered one of the best.
True, for our developers it was a rather painful decision, so I had to redo everything that was done in the previous 2 years. It was necessary to integrate the Internet engine with Amadeus, and the logical rules and business processes were changing. First, I had to redo the reservation system, then DCS (accordingly, rewrite the web check from scratch). Next year we are expected to move to CLS (customer loyalty management).
Now we are actively working to improve personalization for passengers (the ability to make individual offers based on their history of flights with us), the development of digital channels (chat, chat bots, ticket sales via FB) and other improvements to the current functionality and capabilities. In the spring of 2020, according to the plan, launch the expected partial payment by miles / money of tickets, which will be an additional challenge for IBE in terms of integration with the PSS reservation system and LMS loyalty system.
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