Airlines: Air Sahara - IT's a New High!

Air Sahara, part of the Sahara India Pariwar, commenced
operations in December 1993. Presently, its fleet includes new generation
Boeings 737-700s, 737-800s, Classics 737-400s, and wide body 767-300 ER. The
airline also has a fleet of seven Canadair Regional Jets and four highly
advanced Helicopters (Dauphin and Ecureuil). It connects 29 destinations
including five international destinations with 134 daily direct flights.

Challenges

The Airlines, though started in 1993, began implementing IT only in 1999
when it launched its own website for selling tickets online. However, at that
time, payments were not being made online for security reasons. "The
management has always been supportive of IT deployments but budgetary
constraints and manpower shortage were some of the critical issues acting as
hurdles," said Manoj Srivastava, head, IT Air Sahara.

Technology in Sahara caters to its two customers-- internal and
external. The usage of IT helps in servicing the internal customers including
various departments and employees while external customers includes passengers.
"Technology is used to provide a direct touch to passengers. For instance,
our website sells tickets online thereby lowering costs by doing away with
travel agents," Srivastava said.

	'The management has always been supportive of IT deployments but budgetary constraints and manpower shortage were some of the critical issues acting as hurdles'
	-Manoj Srivastava, head, IT Air Sahara

Solution

Departments like accounts, operations, scheduling, cargo handling, marketing
and sales, store and purchase and material departments are fully computerized.
These departments make good use of technology for internal communication and to
post any new requirements or developments. The company has also computerized the
inventory to ensure high dispatch reliability and on-time performance.

Benefits

IT is deployed by the marketing department for sending e-mails through MMS
for keeping passengers posted on new schemes, benefits etc.

The Airlines uses a CRM solution that helps call center agents
provide information to the customers as well as spread information with regards
to new service introduced.

Being a participant in the Central Reservation System known as
Gabriel, Air Sahara's city offices, airports are interconnected thus enabling
any booking to be done in real time.

For operational efficiency and providing enhanced customer
service, most airlines have realized that Enterprise Applications (EA) can help
them achieve this. EA has resulted in uniform flow of information in the
company, avoiding duplication since information is entered only once. Also, all
departments are on intranet and users can log on simultaneously.

Future Plan

As one of the pioneers in IT adoption, Air Sahara is planning to provide
web-check in facility for its passengers which will mean that the passengers can
choose their seats, create a boarding pass while sitting at home, and skip the
queue to directly board the aircraft (applicable only for passengers with hand
baggage).

It is also contemplating introducing Mobile Ticketing and is in
consultations with operators on a ready proof-of-concept. For enabling the
passengers to buy tickets from anywhere, Sahara Airlines is also thinking of
starting air kiosks for selling tickets. Like ATMs these would be installed at
petrol pumps, corporate offices, banks etc.

Stuti Das

stutid@cybermedia.co.in