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Integrated Commercial Platform optimizes network and revenue management
Schedule management and revenue management are central pillars for the management of any airline. Two different departments are usually responsible for developing flight schedules on the one hand and revenue management and pricing on the other hand. To achieve the optimal result for an airline overall, each manager needs a way to assess the effects of his decisions on the other department and on the total airline result. To address this requirement, Lufthansa Systems has just launched the innovative Integrated Commercial Platform (ICP). The ICP covers all of an airline’s network and revenue management processes, ensuring a consistent, comprehensive overview of the information relevant to commercial planning. This gives airlines a solid foundation of data for managing their business and contributes to a significant increase in profitability. The innovative product links all core network management processes, from market analysis, long- to medium-term network planning and schedule and code share management, to revenue management and pricing. All managers involved can directly access all the data relevant to commercial planning via a portal, including fares, frequencies, average revenues and the market share of a route as well as competitors’ offers. The Integrated Commercial Platform combines proven, successful products from the NetLine and ProfitLine suites: NetLine/Plan and NetLine/Sched for long- and short-term network planning, ProfitLine/Yield for revenue management, ProfitLine/Price for pricing, NetLine/Market for market and competitor analyses and SchedConnect for codeshare management. Another innovative element of the platform is the Opportunity Finder which identifies opportunities for generating additional revenues. The Integrated Commercial Platform gives airlines a competitive edge by enabling them to respond more quickly and flexibly in a complex and dynamic market environment. As economic success depends on this capability, integrated IT platforms like the ICP are the future of the airline industry.
InflightMonitor from Lufthansa Systems keeps track of flight plans
Continuous optimization of routings until touch-downLido/Flight from Lufthansa Systems calculates optimal routings with regard to fuel consumption and costs by taking several factors into account, such as the weather and airspace situation. As a flight plan for a long haul flight is usually filed several hours before take-off, the basis of the optimization can change shortly before or even during the actual flight. Adverse weather conditions or airspace and airport closings can necessitate a new route. The InflightMonitor functionality of Lido/Flight automatically keeps track of all changes that affect a flight that is not completed yet. The user-friendly system provides dispatchers promptly with the necessary relevant information as well as suggestions for optimization. This enables the dispatcher to decide on the optimal adjustments to the flight plan based on the new conditions. As soon as a flight plan has been calculated and optimized with Lido/Flight, the InflightMonitor functionality starts its work. It automatically checks every flight that has been calculated but not yet completed against all new incoming airspace restrictions, airport- and weather data that is uploaded to our comprehensive database automatically. Nearly 150,000 pieces of weather information and 3,000 NOTAMS, amongst others, are processed every day by Lido/Flight to keep the central database in a constant “real-time” state. As soon as the InflightMonitor detects that a notification will affect one of the flight plans already calculated, it uses color-coding to display the type of change and how the flight plan may change and informs the dispatcher via a pop-up window if necessary. The tool also suggests alternative routes to guarantee the on-time arrival of the flight. Dispatchers can view these alternatives in graphic form. This helps them to quickly compare the proposed routings to make a decision. Via the Datalink connection to the cockpit, dispatchers are able to keep the cockpit crew informed of necessary changes to the routing and even include them in the decision-making process. In addition, Lufthansa Systems developed a functionality to monitor the actual routing as flown. During a flight, the aircraft automatically sends so called “position reports” to the ground, which are received by Lido/Flight. These reports contain information about the actual position of the aircraft as well as fuel consumption, speed direction and many more mission critical elements that can be defined by the user. The InflightMonitor compares the actual routing and parameters with the calculated plan and identifies potential differences. This information can be valuable for long term planning decisions the airline’s flight operations must make. In particular, North American airlines require a solution such as the InflightMonitor due to FAA regulations which stipulates that the dispatcher shares responsibility with the pilot for the safe conduct of every flight. But not only our North American customers enjoy the benefits of our InflightMonitor, many Lido/Flight customers in Europe and Middle East also rely on this functionality to ensure that the dispatchers are ever-conscious of actual changes.
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