AIRTOURS has signed a deal with technology supplier FSS to provide it with a system that can cope with expanding volumes of business as it moves into direct sales and selling consolidated hotel rooms and car-hire.
The tour operator system supplier says the contract to develop a system for Airtours’ flight consolidator is the largest it has landed in its history.
The technology will provide Airtours’ special fares unit with a centralised fares database that will allow the company’s distributors, Going Places, Travelworld and its new direct sales unit, to access flight fares much quicker.
The new system will also allow the consolidator to load negotiated airline rates much quicker thus speeding up the process of getting the product to market.
The £1m deal comes in the wake of Airtours’ decision to expand its direct-sales sector with a new call centre, its purchase of Travelworld last year and new plans to sell consolidated ground services.
General manager of Airtours’ special fares unit Dave Simmons said: “The reason we have bought this system is to provide us with a platform to allow us to increase the volume of business we can handle.”
FSS sales manager Mike Wright added: “The current in-house system that was being used simply could not cope with the expansion of the company since it was introduced. This new system will mean agents can access fares much more speedily and the software also makes the consolidator back-office system much more efficient.”