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S7 first Russian airline to introduce online calendar booking for flights


WEBWIRE

S7, the first airline to introduce online booking in Russia, today became the first Russian airline to offer on-line calendar booking for all domestic and international flights in a move to provide passengers greater choice and transparency.

Anton Eremin, Senior Vice President, S7 Group said, “Our aim is to provide world-class self-service booking capability to our customers and this new calendar shopping technology from SITA enables us to do just that. In addition, it will increase direct sales and reduce third party payments such as GDS fees, which will allow us to offer even lower fares to our passengers in the future. In the last 10 months, our internet sales increased to 6.3% of our total ticket sales and now with this new technology from SITA we expect further significant growth in 2008.“

S7 customers are now able to book their flights using calendar displays making the process of choosing and booking a flight easier. Providing the ability to view the lowest one-way and return fares across multiple days, on one screen, with colour coding, simplifies the booking process and allows customers to select “at a glance” a fare and travel date which suits them.

For the airline, this fares shopping service will stimulate direct sales providing savings on distribution costs of at least 5% per ticket issued. Increased online sales also support the issuance of e-tickets, which IATA estimates saves airlines a further $9 per ticket.

Richard Stokes, Senior Vice President of SITA Passenger and Travel Solutions added: “The capability to display fares information in a clear and easy way is one of the key factors ensuring successful online booking and sales. Operating SITA Airfare Shop’s calendar shopping will increase the ‘look to book’ ratio for S7 and is an important competitive advantage for the airline.

“We are delighted that S7 is one of the first airlines to implement SITA Airfare Shop part of the initial innovation wave of our new Horizon technology. We are investing over $100 million in Horizon covering Reservations, Inventory, Ticketing, E-commerce and Departure Control to provide efficient self-service tools and unrivalled business intelligence which will deliver profitability, enhanced customer service and optimal distribution to the 138 airlines using our system.”

Since SITA first introduced on-line booking for S7 in 2006, the airline has become the leader in online sales in the highly competitive Russian market. S7 is Russia’s leading domestic carrier and number two internationally. Last year the airline carried 4.9 million passengers. S7 flies to 20 destinations and plans to introduce up to 10 new routes next year and to increase the frequency of flights.



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