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Integrated Commercial Platform improves network profitability
Lufthansa Systems offers new module, ICP/Perform
In a highly competitive environment, airlines need to ensure they run their route network to optimum profitability.
One of the key problems many airlines have is that they cannot assess the result of a specific flight. The
performance of individual routings may vary considerably depending on various criteria: A flight may be
profitable on certain weekdays or in special seasons whereas it generates fewer revenues at other times, based
on the composition of business and leisure passengers as well as external factors like trade fairs and other
events. Getting a clear picture of a flight's network performance is not an easy game. Great planning
experience alone is not enough to guarantee economic success. Sophisticated IT support is needed to improve
overall profitability.
Such functionality is now available with ICP/Perform, a new component of Lufthansa Systems' Integrated
Commercial Platform (ICP). ICP/Perform offers fast, precise reporting down to the level of individual flights on
any given day and provides a very detailed list of the economic effects of various route plans. No other system
currently available can achieve such a fine level of detail. This makes ICP/Perform a valuable decision-making
aid for airline network planning.
However, route profitability is not the only benefit of ICP/Perform. The system also features solid budget
planning. Planners can easily plug the latest data into a variety of planning scenarios to derive cost forecasts
and combine them it with the revenue forecast from Lufthansa Systems' network planning solution, ICP/Plan.
They can then choose the optimal scenario for their budget.
ICP/Perform works closely with an airline's finance system. Precise cost calculations for each flight make it
possible to carefully review invoices from suppliers, such as airports or air traffic control authorities. Airlines can
save a great deal of money each year by rejecting incorrect invoices.
Thus, ICP/Perform is much more than just a conventional reporting system. It combines flight operations
information with cost data and sends the results directly to the respective finance system. The solution also has
interfaces to Lufthansa Systems' Integrated Operations Control Center (IOCC) Platform, to revenue accounting
and other related systems so that revenue and cost data can come from a central data source.
The ICP covers all of an airline's network and revenue management processes. It ensures a comprehensive
overview of the information relevant to commercial planning and gives airlines a solid data foundation.
The portal's modern, intuitive user interface gives users in any department quick access to the fares, flight
frequencies, average yields and market shares of the complete network as well as information on offers from
competitors. Like all of Lufthansa Systems' platform solutions, the Integrated Commercial Platform is completely
modular and can therefore be adapted precisely to the needs of each airline.
Croatia Airlines and Lufthansa Systems: Two decades of joint success
In the fast-moving world of airline IT there are few relationships between customers and suppliers which last as
long as the partnership between Lufthansa Systems and Croatia Airlines. However, this one has expanded into
many areas and is a perfect example of how professional cooperation triggers joint success.
Since Croatia Airlines became the flag carrier of the Republic of Croatia in 1991, the airline has found its place
in the world of aviation. With a modern fleet of Bombardier Dash 8-Q400, Airbus A319 and A320 it operates up
to 100 daily flights to 30 destinations in 20 countries. Since 2004, the company has joined Star Alliance, the
biggest airline alliance in the world, which tells a lot about the quality of the product and the high standards of its
operation.
"More than 20 years ago, Croatia Airlines was a greenfield investment.", says Dan Simonic, IT Director of
Croatia Airlines and head of a team of 17 IT experts. "The very significant cooperation with Lufthansa Systems
helped to shape the modern company we have today". Today the carrier uses a broad spectrum of Lufthansa
Systems solutions ranging from the Lido/eRouteManual electronic navigation charts, the Lido/FlightBag EFB
solution, the FMS navigation data and Lido/TakeOff performance calculation in airline operations to
SchedConnect for optimizing its codeshare connections, NetLine/Crew for the complex task of crew planning,
NetLine/Ops and NetLine/Sched in the area of scheduling and operations control. "We act as a reference
customer for several products. So we offer other airlines to come and see the systems and integration in action,
which is only due to the mutual trust and long cooperation we have with Lufthansa Systems.".
When Croatia Airlines switched from Boeing 737-200s to a modern fleet of Airbus aircraft in 1998 the carrier
signed up for the NetLine suite for network planning, scheduling, crew management and operational control.
"Scalability of the systems is one of the most important requirements because we selected systems which could
grow with the airline - NetLine is a very good example. Although our operation has tripled from the time it was
introduced, the man hours we need haven't increased significantly and our experts can concentrate on essential
things instead of manually processing many repetitive tasks," says Dan Simonic.
For the airline each application needs to bring additional value for its business – direct cost reductions,
increased productivity and efficiency, new business opportunities or additional revenue. Introducing
Lido/FlightBag generates significant benefits in operations in terms of maintenance costs, less fuel, less noise,
less CO2 emissions, increased payload and much more. "Return on investment was achieved after 18 months
based on conservative calculations", says Dan Simonic.
From the perspective of Croatia Airlines, new IT partners not only need to provide the system but implement
better business processes as well. Therefore airline knowledge, competence and experience are paramount.
"When we compared vendors we often found that Lufthansa Systems' products are the most appropriate ones
for us", the head of Croatia IT explains. Having Lufthansa Systems as an IT partner who understands its needs
Croatia Airlines feels well prepared to challenge its competitors and expand its business in the new
environment.