JEDDAH, 22 January 2003 — The Internet booking and ticket purchasing facility introduced by Saudi Arabian Airlines in its domestic sector on Saturday has become a huge success, according to the airline’s top executive.
“It has turned out to be an instant success with our domestic passengers. In a little over three days, 850 passengers have made use of the new facility,” Saudia Director-General Dr. Khaled Ben Bakr told a press conference here yesterday. “We hope to extend the facility for booking of seats in the second phase after about six months when we make available the Internet facility for international passengers,” he said.
Tickets purchases on the Internet had to be done using credit cards, he said and hinted that discounted fares might be offered to those passengers.
He hoped that the Internet booking system would reduce telephone congestion. “We have plans to expand the information technology for the benefit of our passengers. This should also result in boosting sales,” he said stressing that electronic sales had remained the world’s favorite way of booking flights. “If you want to be competitive, you have to use the latest technology.”
Bakr said that the airline’s tracking system has identified Mohannad Ibrahim, who heads a company in Riyadh, as the winner in a special Internet promotion. He booked and purchased his Riyadh-Jeddah-Riyadh ticket recently on the Internet. He has been awarded an international ticket as his prize.
Asked how the airline would tackle the no-show problem, Bakr said: “We have a technology to monitor and tackle this problem. One other way we do is to proportionately overbook seats.”
Saudia is restructuring its reservation system. Modern technology is to be introduced to minimize waiting times and make communication easier. A major improvement will be a single telephone number linking all reservation offices.
“To begin with, four communication centers — Madinah, Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam — will be interlinked digitally so that all calls are transferred automatically. The interlinking will also result in increasing the capacity of the four centers.”
Studies have shown that at least 30 percent of all communications within the airline are related to flights, reservations and fares.
