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V. Rishi Kumar

Amadeus says its solutions can help consumers take to the skies with less hassle.

The domestic aviation sector is up and flying, with the likely addition of over 200 planes over the next two-three years. With Indian business getting increasingly integrated with global markets, travel within the country and outside has become a lot more frequent. It is no longer a luxury but a business necessity.

Amadeus partners service providers, sellers and buyers in the travel space, with point of sale and other services. Ankur Bhatia, Managing Director, Amadeus, in a chat with eWorld, talks of the company's efforts to make air travel less of a hassle. Excerpts:

The Indian aviation industry is seeing boom times. How is Amadeus addressing this opportunity?

The boom in Indian tourism has benefited Indian travellers with outbound tourists from India growing at one million a year. In 2003, there were a mere five million Indians travelling out and in 2006, the figure is up to a whopping seven million.

The projected figure for 2020 by the World Tourism Organisation is 50 million. The figures indicate that there is great potential in the travel industry.

To a certain extent, this can be attributed to the entry of low-cost carriers in India and liberalisation of aviation policies.

Technology plays a critical role in defining success in the travel and tourism space. Amadeus provides up-to-date technology to its partners. Globally, Amadeus spends about $300 million to provide technology to its consumers.

The travel industry today faces numerous data challenges; for example, the need for faster and more data-driven decisions, and pressure to reduce overall Information Technology budgets while at the same time scaling infrastructure to meet ever-increasing business.

Amadeus was earlier only a content provider but today it's home to all IT solutions for the travel and tourism industry.

How big is the market?

The Indian aviation market is estimated to be around Rs 25,000 crore and is growing rapidly with the entry of numerous new players. Over the next two years, 200 large commercial aircraft will be inducted into Indian skies.

e-ticketing appears to be gaining ground. How big is the opportunity here?

E-ticket is paperless travel. It provides for a practical option for the traveller since it is fast and the ticket need not be collected from the airline office or from the travel agent. For airlines, the cost of issuing e-tickets can be reduced drastically from close to Rs 500 to Rs 50. It is projected that with this dramatic reduction in the cost of ticket processing and distribution, airlines could save billions of dollars every year.

Amadeus is an IATA-preferred e-ticketing technology partner for achieving paperless travel by 2007 and is on track to achieve an important milestone for the industry.

Having enabled e-tickets for 153 airlines and 138 countries, Amadeus is far ahead of its nearest competitor.

It implemented e-ticketing for over 50 airlines in 2006.

Several countries across the globe are already enjoying the benefits of e-ticketing, including the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Britain, France, Mexico, Central America, Chile, Argentina, Belgium, Venezuela and the Netherlands.

e-ticketing could impact agents negatively, it is feared. Is this true? Or is it a complementary option?

e-tickering reduces the workload on the travel agent since it eliminates the manual tasks required to process and account for paper airline tickets. It cuts down on the cost of printing flight coupons.

It also allows travel agents to focus on their core competence — which is travel consultancy — rather than issuing and delivering of tickets.

At present, about 900 of the approximate 1,400 IATA-certified travel agents can issue e-tickets. Hence, e-ticketing will impact agents, but only positively.

IT is not a commodity but an enabler to the entire travel and tourism industry and is fundamental to the growth of the aviation business today.

The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) has named India, along with China, as one of the fastest growing tourism industries for the next 10 to 15 years.

A fast growing economy has been driving this growth over the last 3-4 years. Despite lagging in the basic infrastructure that supports the tourism industry, the Indian tourism sector has been showing impressive growth.

To sustain it, it is essential for the Government to invest in infrastructure such as transport systems and accommodation.

vrishi@thehindu.co.in

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