SITA has outlined plans to move its Gabriel reservation system, currently used by 160 smaller carriers, on to a new web-based Unisys Aircore platform. A partnership agreement was signed in February with Unisys which should now see SITA become the first service provider to make the switch to a passenger management system based entirely on new open technology.
"Airlines have been in a time warp where they've been using 1960s technologies," says Bryan Wilson, senior vice-president of applications services at SITA. Gabriel itself is based on Unysis systems dating back to the 1970s, but that will now be entirely replaced within the next two years. "We hope to have taken some major steps forward by the end of this year and to have thrown away the old legacy system by the end of 2004," says Wilson. Gabriel has tended to cater for smaller carriers, which are not aligned to the major global distribution systems and lack the scale to maintain their own in-house systems. On aggregate Gabriel handles 80 million passengers a year. The system should speed the way towards faster and more responsive web-based sales, adds Wilson.
Source: Airline Business
