Indian Airlines Set to take off?

A journey which made a

modest start, but with

high aspirations. The saga of our premier national airline has reflections of achievements as well as disappointments. The last four decades have seen the geographical reach increase from 23,000 km to 1,18,000 km. Assets have grown from Rs21 million to Rs30,000 million and the seat capacity from 3,070 seats per day to 35,700 seats per day. Indian Airlines today has a fleet of 53 aircraft that connect 53 destinations in India and 16 abroad. From exotic holiday resorts to business centers, remote regions to bustling metros, IA connects you to every nook and corner of the country. But all this is not without problems. The airline has been struggling to meet global standards. Its IT division is being revamped to meet the ever increasing requirements of the airline. "Compared to international airlines, the infrastructure here needs a lot of improvement, but we are working at it," says AK Rastogi, Director, Information Technology. "Although the total requirement in the IT division is about 80-90 people, we are functioning with only 35-40% capacity. And this is mainly because of the high turnover of employees in this industry," he says.

A power-packed system

An online system catering to such an extensive network certainly has to be robust enough to support mission critical applications that run 24 hours a day. It should be scaleable and have sufficient redundancy to support uninterrupted operation. So Indian Airlines had to create a cost-effective system with an efficient development environment for online testing, debugging and training. It needed an ability to process online transactions within a few milliseconds, explains Rastogi. "Earlier we could process only 18-20 transactions per second. And we needed a system that could process up to 35-40 transactions per second.

Moreover, we wanted to accommodate more applications on that system," he says.

One of the essential features for any online processing system is a high degree of database integrity and recovery features with dual copy of the online database, logging of database updates, auditing of input/output transactions, online debugging aids and trace facility. The system and network configuration for airlines should be capable of providing seamless operation even under disaster situations.

Considering all these factors, Indian Airlines began the process of revamping their older Unisys System, which had lasted for about 13 years. It was time for change and in 1996 began the search for an appropriate replacement. "Our processing needs were increasing and the existing machines had outlived their utility. Moreover their maintenance was also a problem. The decision to go for IBM

S/390 was taken after a proper tender processing exercise," says Rastogi. Other than IBM, vendors like HP had also applied. But at the time Indian Airlines went for selection, their systems had not taken full shape and are still not capable of handling the extensive requirements of IA. "They are suitable only for 12 million passengers annually, whereas we are carrying about 10 million passengers," he points out.

The transition

The process of data migration from one system to the other was a tedious one. The transition involved a lot of customization and modification in all areas; networking, applications, operating system. It was a team effort of Indian Airlines and IBM. The vendors also provided training to some people in the IT and commercial departments. And these people trained the remaining employees.

All the changes made in the systems are based on the users' needs. They give their ideas and the IT experts look at the functional aspect to verify if they can be technically supported and assess their implications on the other facilities.

It is important to see that the integration of one application for a particular department does not affect another department adversely, says Rastogi. The entire transition process which began in June'96 was completed in March'98. Although the Unisys systems are still online along with IBM, they will be gradually phased out from the network.

The present IBM computer system configuration meets all the requirements that are essential for an airlines reservation system. The

information system has a dual configuration installed at two computer sites located about half a km from each other.

The two systems are linked through high-speed fiber optic links and a dual copy of the database is maintained across sites. Both system and network configurations are designed to ensure complete recovery of the core business applications in case of any disaster. Besides passenger services applications, the system is also being used for other online applications like MIS, aircraft spares information system, personnel information system and other batch processing applications like payroll and billings etc.

IA Network

The Indian Airlines' network is structured around IBM S/390 mainframes located at their headquarters in Delhi. IBM 3745 Communication Controller is the front-end communication processor connected to the S/390 host. All the devices in the IA network access the host via 3745.

There are two of these machines connected using a 64 Kbps fiber optic link. This router-based network uses a mix of 64 Kbps and 9.6 Kbps analog links depending on the application requirements. "I am proud to say that this system can work on any kind of network. All the digital lines terminate at the front-end processor (FEP), which controls the entire communication process and lines flowing at different locations within the country and all over the world," says

Rastogi.

There is a local area network in place, which is connected with the help of token rings and ethernet. A token ring connects a group of computers, which in turn can be put on the network through a single port. This means that the LANs all over the country are connected to the LAN at S/390 locations in Delhi through IBM routers. The SNA (a propriety protocol) data originating at these LANs is encapsulated in an IP packet and delivered as SNA to the main ring through the data link switching option of the routers.

Two parallel Telematics switches provide connectivity to P1024 users by converting it into X.25 protocol. The switches are connected to 3745s using 64 Kbps X.25 link. This connectivity caters to the PSS application, Air India's system, Sabre and Sita. All these work together to provide a comprehensive reservation system for the airline.

Rastogi explains,

"We have identified certain regions and

sub-regions, nodes and sub-nodes for the connectivity network. For instance, Mumbai, Calcutta, Chennai, Lucknow, Jaipur, Chandigarh,

Delhi are major nodes. Goa and Ahmedabad are sub-nodes connected with Mumbai. But the network is such that even if one major node has a failure, the subsequent sub-nodes are not affected and alternate routes are found."

Indian Airlines possesses an extensive computerized reservation system (CRS) to provide online reservations service to its clients.

The reservation system is accessed by more than 2500 EDP terminals across the length and breadth of the country, apart from international stations. The IBM S/390

system supports multiple applications such as Passenger Services System, Frequent Flier System, management information and aircraft inventory information system. DB2, the S/390 database management tool, maintains the entire data.

Access to the reservation system is also available through several hundred travel agencies operating in the country.

Indian Airlines participates in all the major CRS' in the world including Sabre, Galileo, Amadeus, Abacus, World Span, Gemini, Infini, GETS and Axess. The ticketing and reservation system of Indian Airlines is connected to the systems worldwide through Sita connectivity, a network that links all the global CRS and airlines. In this way, it provides access to the reservation system to travel agents around the globe. Rastogi exclaims proudly, "No matter where you may be located, you can book a seat on an IA flight through the travel agents connected to these CRS."

Net gains

Although Indian airlines has not been able to keep up with the quality of services most international airlines offer, it has now decided to spruce up its act. The passenger is the king and he has to be made happy. Realizing the importance of technology, IA is also looking at web-based activities to catch up with global standards. A pilot plan for putting the systems on the net has already been run. "You will soon be able to see flight schedules, arrival and departure information and make your bookings through the net," says Rastogi proudly.

The facility will be initially dedicated to corporate houses and travel agents. The airline is also planning some data mining activities for processing information and utilizing it optimally. A number of facilities such as touch screen monitors to lure the traveler are also on cards. The plans are ambitious but it remains to be seen whether the national carrier can leverage on technology and successfully compete against increasing domestic and global competition.

Shweta

Verma

in New Delhi