A Novel Bottom-Up Sales Channel Between Travelers and Airlines

Project Information

AIRM

Grant agreement ID: 828572

DOI

10.3030/828572

Project closed

EC signature date 18 July 2018

Start date 1 August 2018

End date 31 January 2019

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

OPTION WAY
France

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - AIRM (A Novel Bottom-Up Sales Channel Between Travelers and Airlines)

Reporting period: 2018-08-01 to 2019-01-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

It is of paramount importance for airlines to fill their seats. This leads to a more efficient use of resources, with positive financial, operational and ecological impacts. But the current paradigm is top-down: airlines estimate the future demand for a flight and continuously monitor the price according to the flight’s occupancy, without the view of the real demand from travelers.
We propose to improve this model by introducing a novel bottom-up channel from travelers to airlines. Travelers will be able to place a bid on a seat, and Airlines will have access to these bids. They may accept a bid and thus immediately increase the occupancy of a flight, without the need for continuous fare readjustment. This would deeply change the dynamics of the market, providing airlines with real-time information about the demand. Our ultimate goal is to improve revenue management and increase occupancy rates.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

According to our study, many airlines are interested by a novel bottom-up sales channel with bids from travelers, mainly to better fill the under-loaded flights during the low or medium season. We have focused our work on the different technical solutions to implement this new solution, and we have succeeded to define an achievable model with the existing technical constraints. Our solution is simple, profitable, and matches our goal to improve revenue management.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The main impact of our project is to increase the average occupancy rate of the flights, leading to a better use of resources in order to limit the ecological impact of each traveler. The project has also a positive impact for airlines by improving their revenue and for travelers by saving money. For Option Way, this project is an opportunity to growth and develop our business.

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