3 ms·

I'm not sure why the headline doesn't include Amadeus also. They are doing the same thing. It's a much bigger deal that the "Big 2" are dropping Aeroflot dist

by tyingq 5y ago

I'm not sure why the headline doesn't include Amadeus also. They are doing the same thing. It's a much bigger deal that the "Big 2" are dropping Aeroflot distribution at the same time. Note that Aeroflot can still sell direct on their website or call center. I don't know how many of their sales are GDS/Amadeus and GDS/Sabre versus direct, or via other smaller GDS systems. Edit: "The share of online and call centre sales grew by 1.5 p. p. to 36.2% in 2019 (vs 34.7% in 2018). Channel-wise, agents remain the biggest contributor to sales with 58.5%. Own sales offices accounted for 5.3% of total sales, flat year-on-year."[1] So this is hitting that 58.5% bucket, probably most of it. Other stories say their "PSS" support is also in jeopardy, though not decided yet. If that shuts down, the airline shuts down entirely. [1] http://ar2019.aeroflot.ru/reports/aeroflot/annual/2019/gb/English/203525/sales.html http://ar2019.aeroflot.ru/reports/aeroflot/annual/2019/gb/En...

thetinguy 5y ago
I think pss refers to a pricing solution suite.
- tyingq 5y ago
  It's "Passenger Service System" in this context. The core of where flights are sold. Killing off different GDS systems kills off individual sales channels. Killing off PSS kills the core of where it all lives, flights, seat inventory, pricing, etc.
- mtnygard 5y ago
  Passenger service system. It's the one that handles reservations and (usually) checkin.
ploika 5y ago
Would TravelSky step in? To my very limited understanding they have a very similar offering, mostly focused on the Chinese market.
- namdnay 5y ago
  Migrating a PSS is a 3-10 year project, depending on airline size
t0mas88 5y ago
The reason the big 2 do it at the same time is also that there is a very significant payment risk for any counterparty of Aeroflot at the moment. The Ruble is falling and the Swift block is making payments even harder. So I'm guessing that demand for Aeroflot in the GDS systems is tiny at the moment.
- tyingq 5y ago
  >So I'm guessing that demand for Aeroflot in the GDS systems is tiny at the moment. If I understand it right, the international demand would be low, but I believe even the domestic sales typically go through travel agents that use a GDS. That is, most Aeroflot customers don't buy their tickets online. I'm sure they will find a workaround, but turning off the GDS will affect even domestic sales for a short time. The travel agencies could, of course, do the booking online, but then they don't get the commission. The workaround is probably some way to pay them commission for those kind of sales.
contingencies 5y ago
Aeroflot already "cancelled flights to Europe" at the same time countries closed their airspace. US and Canada also don't allow Russian flights. China has their own GDS (global distribution system = travel industry term for such a system). Maybe this will push Russia to shift to using the Chinese GDS? IIRC it's TravelSky (Hong Kong listed) but http://www.travelsky.cn/ http://www.travelsky.cn/ and http://www.travelsky.net/ http://www.travelsky.net/ appear to be down right now, http://www.travelsky.com.cn/ http://www.travelsky.com.cn/ is apparent agent login (but apparently firewalls foreign IPs), so see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TravelSky https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TravelSky
- tyingq 5y ago
  https://www.travelsky.com.cn/ https://www.travelsky.com.cn/ works for me. It has this notice on it: "Notice: From now on, the website URL of Xintian Youyanzhen will be changed from www.travelsky.com to www.travelsky.com.cn, and the original domain name will no longer be used."
dakial1 5y ago
Their online and store sales might also depend on gds system on the backend (many airlines have this kind of deal where Amadeus/Sabre take care also of inventory systems. So this might be a very big problem for them.
- tyingq 5y ago
  Yes, your direct PSS (passenger service system) or CRS (customer reservation system) could also be run by one of those two. But they aren't yet threatening to shut that down yet. So far, only the GDS bit is being turned off. There's speculation that what you're describing might happen.

by tyingq 5y ago

thetinguy 5y ago

I think pss refers to a pricing solution suite.

tyingq 5y ago
It's "Passenger Service System" in this context. The core of where flights are sold. Killing off different GDS systems kills off individual sales channels. Killing off PSS kills the core of where it all lives, flights, seat inventory, pricing, etc.
mtnygard 5y ago
Passenger service system. It's the one that handles reservations and (usually) checkin.

ploika 5y ago

Would TravelSky step in? To my very limited understanding they have a very similar offering, mostly focused on the Chinese market.

namdnay 5y ago
Migrating a PSS is a 3-10 year project, depending on airline size

t0mas88 5y ago

The reason the big 2 do it at the same time is also that there is a very significant payment risk for any counterparty of Aeroflot at the moment. The Ruble is falling and the Swift block is making payments even harder. So I'm guessing that demand for Aeroflot in the GDS systems is tiny at the moment.

tyingq 5y ago
>So I'm guessing that demand for Aeroflot in the GDS systems is tiny at the moment. If I understand it right, the international demand would be low, but I believe even the domestic sales typically go through travel agents that use a GDS. That is, most Aeroflot customers don't buy their tickets online. I'm sure they will find a workaround, but turning off the GDS will affect even domestic sales for a short time. The travel agencies could, of course, do the booking online, but then they don't get the commission. The workaround is probably some way to pay them commission for those kind of sales.

contingencies 5y ago

Aeroflot already "cancelled flights to Europe" at the same time countries closed their airspace. US and Canada also don't allow Russian flights. China has their own GDS (global distribution system = travel industry term for such a system). Maybe this will push Russia to shift to using the Chinese GDS? IIRC it's TravelSky (Hong Kong listed) but http://www.travelsky.cn/ http://www.travelsky.cn/ and http://www.travelsky.net/ http://www.travelsky.net/ appear to be down right now, http://www.travelsky.com.cn/ http://www.travelsky.com.cn/ is apparent agent login (but apparently firewalls foreign IPs), so see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TravelSky https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TravelSky

tyingq 5y ago
https://www.travelsky.com.cn/ https://www.travelsky.com.cn/ works for me. It has this notice on it: "Notice: From now on, the website URL of Xintian Youyanzhen will be changed from www.travelsky.com to www.travelsky.com.cn, and the original domain name will no longer be used."

dakial1 5y ago

Their online and store sales might also depend on gds system on the backend (many airlines have this kind of deal where Amadeus/Sabre take care also of inventory systems. So this might be a very big problem for them.

tyingq 5y ago
Yes, your direct PSS (passenger service system) or CRS (customer reservation system) could also be run by one of those two. But they aren't yet threatening to shut that down yet. So far, only the GDS bit is being turned off. There's speculation that what you're describing might happen.