Laura Hailstone/LONDON
As business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce solutions take hold of the global aerospace industry, Flight International has assembled details of the latest internet-based developments in the industry. This is not intended to be a comprehensive listing of airline and supplier internet-based activities. It highlights the latest e-commerce initiatives being planned and implemented by manufacturers, airlines and industry suppliers as an indication of the way internet technology is affecting airlines, aerospace and defence suppliers and manufacturers.
Most manufacturers and airlines have provided online ordering for parts, products and flights for several years, but it has only been since late last year and early this year that airlines, aerospace and defence companies have fully embraced B2B e-commerce solutions.
The latest e-initiatives are industry-wide activities which link competing manufacturers and cut across global airline alliances. Airlines and suppliers are no longer aligning with their traditional partners, but seeking new ones in an effort to secure up to 35% cost savings and efficiency improvements promised by e-commerce. The airline websites are already starting to draw the legal fire of travel agents and others in the USA which claim the sites would allow collusion in the setting of fares, while US anti-trust authorities are also beginning to look closely at the industry exchanges to ensure they are open to all.
Suppliers
• BAE Systems, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and e-commerce specialist Commerce One aim to establish their as yet unnamed exchange for the global aerospace and defence industry by mid-year. The venture, announced in March, will provide an exchange for products, services and technical data.
• Aeronautical communication specialist SITA and US aerospace inventory management company AAR joined on 15 February to form aerospan.com. The website, to be launched in the middle of the year, will enable customers to buy and sell air transport industry products and services online.
• United Technologies and Honeywell have linked with electronic commerce specialist i2 Technologies to form MyAircraft.com, a venture focusing on the aerospace aftersales market. It is expected to be launched during the second quarter of the year.
• BAE Systems is to use Aspect Development's eCommerce solution to consolidate $8.7 billion global spend across all divisions. Aspect eSource will also be used as the e-commerce foundation for BAE Systems' global exchange with Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, enabling BAE Systems to negotiate cost savings with a reduced supplier list.
• Boeing has launched myboeingfleet.com, a single source of online maintenance, engineering and flight operations data. The portal uses personalised technology from BroadVision which allows content to be customised for each user. Boeing intends to integrate the web site into its global exchange with BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon. Other Boeing online offerings include Boeing Digital, Web BOLD and Flight Technical Services On-Line, all of which will also be available on the new site. Boeing has set up New Ventures, headed by Anil Shrikhande, a former executive of Unisys, which will include the manufacturer's e-commerce activities.
• TradeAir.Com, based in Minnesota, launched its commercial aircraft parts supply service earlier this year, with the first transaction conducted by BFGoodrich Aerospace. The website allows buyers and sellers to conduct secure business on the internet with the open market or a user-selectable group of approved traders.
• AviationX is developing a neutral, global e-commerce network for the aviation industry. It has beta test user agreements with US regional airlines Express Airlines and Chautauqua. AviationX estimates that by 2004 it will save the commercial aviation industry at least $300 million a year by reducing costs of transactions conducted over its network by 15%.
• DaimlerChrysler has signed an agreement with FreeMarkets, an online auction marketplace, to enable DaimlerChrysler to conduct purchasing through the online auction site. FreeMarkets created online auctions for over $2.7 billion worth of purchase orders in 1999.
• PartsBase.com has already signed more than 3,000 subscribers for its global e-marketplace, which was launched this year. Parts exchange and auction capabilities are already available, while an online transaction capability will be introduced this quarter. Current members of the marketplace include Boeing, Honeywell, FedEx, Southwest Airlines, BFGoodrich, Northrop Grumman and United Parcel Service.
• SkyFish.com has secured $4 million financing for its proposed aerospace trading hub. SkyFish.com aims to provide the airline and aerospace industries with a web-based platform to link customers, suppliers, content and data providers, targeted at providing cost savings for the aerospace supply chain.
• FastAero.com will announce financial backers and technology partners next month for a new neutral aerospace exchange for initial service introduction with launch customers in July. Full system availability is planned for the fourth quarter. FastAero.com will provide a global real-time B2B e-marketplace for aerospace spare parts, services and equipment for commercial and business aviation. Military markets will also be addressed. FastAero.com says it will be the first neutral European exchange serving the entire supply chain.
• Airline caterer Gate Gourmet and i2 Technologies have launched a B2B e-marketplace to manage all catering and related services for the airline and travel industries. The joint venture, to be called e-gatematrix, has signed an initial 12-year contract with launch customer Delta Air Lines. E-gatematrix aims to reduce purchasing costs for airlines and improve services for their passengers.
• GE Aircraft Engines (GEAE) has selected SpaceWorks to provide B2B e-commerce capabilities, enabling international and domestic airlines to place orders via the internet 24h a day. Other capabilities of the new website include inventory checking, paying bills and viewing pictures of ongoing repair work.
Airlines
• Eleven European carriers, across four global alliances, have announced a plan to launch the continent's first multiple-airline travel agency on the web later this year. The site, as yet unnamed, will offer the lowest prices available from each carrier. The venture includes four carriers from the Star Alliance - Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, British Midland and Austrian Airlines and four from the oneworld Alliance - British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus and Finnair, as well as KLM, Air France and Alitalia. Hotels, car hire, insurance and other travel services will also be provided. The venture will be managed independently of the airlines. Pricing or proprietary information will not be shared. The site will significantly reduce the overheads of the participating carriers by slashing costs of selling and distributing tickets and allowing better control of pricing.
• Members of the Star Alliance will launch a buyer-driven B2B e-commerce exchange for the airline industry, allowing users to purchase their supplies online, later this year. The exchange intends to serve the whole industry and will invite airlines which are not Star members to join. The site will be managed independently of the individual airlines.
• American Airlines, Air France, British Airways, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines are to form an internet marketplace linking carriers worldwide with qualified airline suppliers. The new venture, which comprises carriers from four different airline alliances, will handle around $32 billion of the six founder airlines' supply chain business annually, and will select a technology partner at a later date to be based in the USA.
• Travel reservations company Amadeus Global Travel Distribution plans to offer flight, hotel and car booking services via the internet in a joint venture with British Airways.
• US carriers United, Delta, Continental and Northwest have invested $100 million in a new travel web site to be launched this quarter. The carriers say the aim is to provide "a complete choice of travel products and services at prices equal to or lower than those available from any other travel source". Since the announcement of the venture in November, a further 23 carriers have invested in the site. The Department of Justice has been asked to investigate the alliance as the American Society of Travel Agents fears the venture will lead to price fixing and boycotting of travel agents.
• United Airlines has launched an e-commerce subsidiary responsible for the airlines' internet and wireless initiatives. The new company will also create United's first online sales organisation that will be charged with managing the many partnerships and relationships with new and existing online travel sites, as well as generating additional online revenues.
• United Airlines and buy.com, a multi-category internet superstore, have formed buytravel.com. The new website offers customers a "travel superstore" where consumers can make bookings with about 500 major airlines, 30,000 hotels and 45 car rental agencies.
• UK low-cost carrier buzz is launching three online services to appeal to the 50% of its customers which book flights over the internet.
• EasyBiz, a new online tool from Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air, allows companies to purchase airline tickets, and make hotel and car reservations via a secure internet connection. Online check-in, with the ability to print boarding passes via the web is also available.
• Discount travel website, Europebyair.com, which is providing online reservations and e-ticketing, is selling the only air travel pass which can be used for travelling to over 130 destinations in 27 countries on 16 airlines - Alpi Eagles, Aegean Airlines, Air Liberté, Air One, Augsburg Airways, Axon Airlines, Croatia Airlines, Estonian Air, European Air Express, Jersey European, LTU International, Portugalia, Spanair, Trans Travel Airways, Virgin Express and VLM. The participating airlines accept the europebyair.com Flight pass on all valid routes.
Freight
• FedEx Supply Chain Services, a subsidiary of FedEx Logistics, has created a FedEx eLogistics division to provide end-to-end electronic commerce logistics solutions. Around two-thirds of Fed Ex's US domestic transactions are now handled online.
• Global Freight Exchange (GF-X), an internet marketplace for wholesale airfreight, launched pilot trials at the beginning of May. British Airways, Panalpina World Transport and SAirLogistics are each taking stakes of less than 10% in the UK-based company, join shareholders Lufthansa, Deutsche Post World Net, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Australian Kerry Packer's Consolidated Press Holdings. The deals are estimated to value GF-X at £200 million ($300 million).
Corporate aviation
• Flightserv.com has created a customer-enabled internet exchange for business travel. The company's first product, the Private Seats programme, allows business travellers to purchase individual seats on chartered private jets.
• Indigo started selling individual seats on business jet flights between Chicago and New York in March as the first phase in the US company's public charter service, designed to be an alternative to airline travel. Later stages include services to Atlanta, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh and Washington DC, and expansion into Europe.
• TransJet.com launched an internet-based business aircraft and helicopter fractional ownership venture in February. The operation is owned by California-based 3wVentures.com. Services started in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Los Angeles, with two British Aerospace 125-600s, and the company intends to expand to 40 US cities.
Airports
• BAA has invested $13.25 million in lastminute.com, which offers last-minute deals on travel, gifts and entertainment. The partnership creates a link between the virtual world and the real world by giving lastminute.com access to high visibility marketing opportunities at airports.
Flight International does not claim this list is fully comprehensive.
Source: Flight International
