A
AIRAC-Cycle
Aeronautical Information Regulation and Control
Industry-wide publication cycle of updated approach and departure procedures and other aeronautical data every 28 days.
APIS
Advance Passenger Information System
Collection and transmission of personal passenger data which airlines must supply to the respective national authorities for travel to certain countries (e.g. USA, Canada, United Kingdom).
GroundSolutions Platform
AQQ
APIS Quick Query
IT system enabling airlines to convey APIS passenger data interactively to the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection and to receive an immediate response regarding each passenger’s permit to enter the USA.
GroundSolutions Platform
ARINC 424
Aeronautical standard file and data format for the internationally standardized preparation of information such as FMS data.
Lido/FMS NavigationData Services
ASP Model
Application Service Providing
Provision of IT solutions on an infrastructure shared by several customers. The core application components are the same for all customers, but certain elements can be configured individually. Billing is usually on a per-use basis (e.g., price per passenger, transaction, etc.).
B
Boarding Gate Reader
Boarding is usually controlled by 2D bar codes printed on paper boarding passes or displayed on a mobile phone or similar device.
GroundSolutions Platform
BSP
Billing and Settlement Plan
IATA system for handling ticket sales between airlines and with IATA-accredited travel agents.
C
Crew Assignment
Roster planning for cockpit and cabin crews which aims to minimize crew costs.
NetLine/Crew
CRS
Computer Reservation System
See GDS (Global Distribution System).
CUSS
Common Use Self Service
Check-in portal which can be used by passengers of various airlines. The equipment, such as check-in kiosks or boarding pass readers, is supplied and maintained by a central provider.
CUTE
Common Use Terminal Equipment
Shared use of an IT infrastructure by several different airlines, e.g., workstations for check-in agents and boarding terminals. The devices are supplied and maintained by a central provider.
D
DCS
Departure Control System
IT solution for passenger and aircraft handling. A back-end system which bundles the applications for various check-in channels, boarding, baggage handling and weight & balance.
GroundSolutions Platform
Desktop Services (also: Managed Client Services)
Flexible worldwide provision of IT workstations, including software, migration, integration and operation.
E
EFB
Electronic Flight Bag
The electronic flight bag integrates numerous IT applications for the paperless preparation and operation of flights, such as the operational flight plan, electronic route charts for ground and in-flight navigation as well as operational manuals. The EFB solution can run as a Class 1 solution on notebooks, as a Class 2 solution on notebooks with a cockpit interface and fully integrated as a Class 3 solution.
Lido/FlightBag
EOSID
Engine Out Standard Instrument Departure
Emergency flight paths that enable pilots to maintain a safe flight with less thrust if one engine fails during take-off. EOSIDs are specified for all types of aircraft and for all departure procedures.
Lido/RouteManual
Lido/eRouteManual
ERP
Enterprise Resource Planning
Concept and IT system for managing and planning business resources and functions (e.g., SAP R/3).
F
Fleet Assignment
In the context of long-term planning, fleet assignment describes the process of allocating an aircraft type to a route. Tail assignment – the assignment of a specific aircraft to a flight, taking maintenance requirements and other relevant factors into account – happens in a second step.
NetLine/Plan, NetLine/Sched
Flight Planning
Dispatchers calculate the optimal route for each flight based on factors such as fuel consumption, flight time or the costs of each flight.
Lido/Flight
FMS
Flight Management System
Cockpit system for aircraft control and navigation. The FMS supplies all the necessary information concerning routes and performance data to the autopilot.
Lido/FMS NavigationData Services
G
GDS
Global Distribution System
also: Computer Reservation System (CRS)
Computer reservation systems provide direct access to bookings as well as availability and price information through airlines, hotels, car rental companies, etc.
GUI
Graphical User Interface
Component of an IT system for entering commands via devices such as a keyboard or mouse.
H
Hosting
Operation of specially modified applications for a customer on a dedicated IT infrastructure. The customer owns the application licenses and bears the full cost of the infrastructure.
I
IP Telephony (also: Voice over IP)
Internet Protocol Telephony
Placing phone calls over the Internet by transmitting voice signals in data packets via IP networks.
IT Infrastructure Consulting
Guidance for planning, migrating and integrating IT infrastructures. Consultants help customers choose standardized, high-quality IT solutions which meet the customers’ needs.
L
LAN
Local Area Network
Local computer network within a smaller area, such as a building or a company site.
M
Mainframe System
A major computer consisting of both the central processing unit and operating system as well as the linked software components for resource management and data back-up and restoration.
Managed WAN Services
Provision of an efficient, secure wide-area network (WAN) for companies. The provider purchases network capacity and bandwidth from the best regional providers and links them to a powerful virtual network. With the multi-provider network from Lufthansa Systems, airlines can cut their network costs by an average of 30% with no loss of performance.
SkyConnect
MIDT
Market Information Data Tapes
The analysis of aggregated, anonymous booking data from reservation systems (GDS) gives airlines important information about their markets and competitors, including data on traffic flows, market share and booking trends.
NetLine/Market
MRO
Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul
Collective term for all technical activities aiming to maintain or enhance the performance or lifetime of an aircraft.
N
Network Airline
Usually a larger airline with an international route network which actively markets connecting flights via hub airports and provides the respective transfer services for passengers and their baggage.
Network Planning
The planning of an airline's route network, taking into account its own schedules, competitors’ schedules, passenger flow and demand as well as fleet availability, revenue and costs.
NetLine/Plan
NOTAM
Notice to Airmen
Worldwide information about short-term situations relevant to operations on a planned route or at an airport, such as temporarily blocked runways or closed airspaces.
O
O&D
Origin and Destination
Concept for market analysis, network planning and revenue management by airlines. Historical and future booking data is evaluated on the basis of complete itineraries (origin to destination) rather than individual legs of a journey. Airlines use this information to plan and optimize their schedules, capacity and fares.
ProfitLine/Yield O&D
OFP
Operational Flight Plan
The operational flight plan contains all relevant information regarding the planned flight route, altitude data, weights, fuel requirements, alternate airports within reach, etc. for cockpit crews.
Lido/Flight
P
PCI DSS
Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard
Security standard in the credit card industry. To increase transaction security, companies handling credit card payments are required to comply with this standard. This also applies to airlines which process payment card information for their ticket sales, check-in, mileage credit, etc.
PCI Compliance Engine
PNR
Passenger Name Record
Standardized entry of passenger booking data in a GDS which contains all relevant booking information for a passenger or group of people traveling together.
R
Retrofit
Modernization of equipment or IT systems by modifying them to meet current technical standards or other requirements.
Revenue Management (also: Yield Management)
Revenue or yield management aims to optimize an airline’s capacity utilization in order to maximize profits. Specifically, revenue management involves setting airfares, controlling aircraft capacity, adjusting capacity to meet demand, and exploiting market potential while attaining high average yields.
ProfitLine
RFID
Radio Frequency Identification
The contactless transmission of data via radio waves. This happens by means of a chip containing data which can be read by a scanner and processed in a database. In aviation, RFID technology is used in materials management for aircraft spare parts. With RFID, parts can be managed better and made available for use more quickly.
S
SaaS
Software as a Service
Operation of IT solutions on a shared infrastructure. Since these solutions are used by several different customers, they cannot be customized individually. The IT infrastructure and application operation costs are billed on a per-use basis.
Schedule Management
The overall management and control of flight schedules. Airlines can change their schedules at any time in response to competition or other external or internal factors.
NetLine/Sched
SIP Telephony
Session Initiation Protocol
A type of Internet telephony. All Internet telephones which support this protocol can be used to call each other.
SLA
Service Level Agreement
Part of a service contract which defines the consequences – usually bonuses or penalty payments – of different quality levels of service provision on the part of the provider.
Slot Management
A slot is the time frame available to an airline for taking off or landing at a particular airport. Slot management entails the optimal use of take-off and landing permissions and the acquisition and management of such permissions.
NetLine/Sched Slot Manager
T
Tail Assignment
The process of tail assignment is related to fleet assignment. The term describes the assignment of a specific aircraft to a particular flight. The expression is derived from the word "tail sign" which is an aircraft’s individual registration number.
NetLine/Ops
TFR
Traffic Flow Restrictions
The rules set by aviation safety authorities guarantee smooth traffic flows in the airways of each country. Temporary restrictions – such as the closure of certain airways at particular times – complicate the route planning process.
Lido/Flight
Track & Trace
(Shipment tracking)
Monitoring the current position of an (air) cargo shipment.
ELWIS
V
VoIP
Voice over IP
(see IP Telephony)
W
WAN
Wide Area Network
Large-area computer network which, in contrast to a LAN, can cover countries and continents.