It is now five months since I began with Mercator and we held  our Customer Forum in Dubai  and what a five months! Fuel prices have redefined our industries economics. This means more pressure on providers to deliver solutions that fit the needs of their customers. In a recent article Forrester highlighted the need for IT providers to be as close to their customers businesses as possible. I truly believe we do that. I am very proud to have taken this role and am also delighted by the professionalism and dedication of the Mercator Team. We don’t sell hardware and software. We provide Business Technology that improves processes, reducing costs and gives our customers a return on investment.

Business Process Outsourcing and Consultancy are the fasted growing areas of our company. Why? Because we offer great solutions at a price point that is attractive.

Our Revenue Accounting solutions are tried and tested with 40 airline customers. We recently added the additional option of hosting our system with us, used by customers in their offices, with a very economic pay as you go model.Tunis Air have recently signed up for this ASP model. RADAR is a Management Information System (MIS) that converts revenue accounting data into information for decision support. Malaysian, Gulf Air and Philippine Airlines all use our business technology and we are in the process of implementing it at Garuda.

It has been a great few weeks for our SkyChain Cargo business solution. Swiss have now gone live with our new technology. There is a great deal of hype in our industry about “new generation systems”. This is a true working example that has redefined the cargo operations of Emirates, Midex and Swiss.

Lastly our new award winning hotel distribution platform is designed to re-engineer the process of confirming block space allocations. Fairmont Hotels and Hilton have signed to participate with buyers accessing inventory from Expedia and booking.com.

These are all exciting and ground breaking developments and I can assure you that there will be more to come as we focus on delivering to market requirements and the provision of Business Technology.

Mercator has scored its third recent win in North America by securing a contract with WestJet for RAPID, its airline passenger interline revenue accounting solution.

WestJet, Canada's leading high-value low-cost airline, has signed up for Mercator’s RAPID Bureau Interline Solution hosted in Dubai. Benefits of outsourcing revenue accounting services, for items such as passenger coupons and cargo airway bills, are that it saves money and smoothes the impact of production spikes on cash reserves. A single transaction fee per coupon processed by Mercator makes it easier for the airline in its financial planning.

The advantages for WestJet include the swift determination of revenue, boosted productivity and efficiency, reduced accounting costs and refined processes. The carrier’s executives will also be armed with incisive management reports, giving them the confidence to make informed tactical decisions and winning long-term strategies.

Janice Paget, Vice President of Finance Projects at WestJet, said "We are extremely excited about our new partnership with Mercator.  They demonstrate the same core values we hold and have provided us with a timely, efficient solution to a complex issue whilst maintaining strong internal controls and providing excellent customer service. This solution has provided a valuable part of the foundation for our growth relating to our interline strategy".

Duncan Alexander, Vice President Mercator, said: “We are delighted that WestJet have placed their confidence in our Business Technology Solution to enhance their interline revenue accounting.  Our industry cost base had been re-defined with the surge in fuel price and it is critical that airlines are able to accurately account for their revenue, resolve discrepancies and collect cash as fast and as accurately as possible.  Our staff and technologies provide that capability.”

Airlines already benefiting from the RAPID family of products include: Air New Zealand, Air Pacific, Air Algerie, Air Malawi, Air Niugini, Air Zimbabwe, Air Tahiti, Air Tanzania,  Avianca, BA World Cargo, Cyprus Airways, Emirates Airline, Etihad Airways, Express Jet, Garuda, Gulf Air, Jat Airways, Jet Airways, Jet light, Kenya Airways, Libyan Arab Airlines, Malaysian Airlines, Oman Air, Olympic, Philippine Airlines, Qantas, Royal Air Maroc, Royal Brunei, Singapore Airlines, SriLankan, Syrian Arab Airlines, TACA, TAROM, Varig, West Jet, Yemenia.

SriLankan Airlines has signed up for SkyChain, the end to end cargo reservation and business management solution offered by Mercator.

Patrick Naef, Head of Mercator said "The timing of this partnership is significant - coming as it does when skyrocketing fuel prices are having a tremendous economic impact on the airline industry. This partnership clearly demonstrates that major players have confidence in our IT solutions to reduce costs and increase revenue."

He added "SkyChain has been built for the air cargo business of today and the changing dynamics of the foreseeable future. We are confident SkyChain will have a significant and positive impact on our customers’ financial bottom line and make waves in the air cargo industry."

Mercator plans to complete implementation by the second quarter of 2009. The solution will be hosted out of Mercator's data centres’ in Dubai and used by authorised SriLankan cargo users out of Colombo and other outstation cargo offices globally.

The solution, wholly developed by Mercator in Dubai, has been designed to manage every aspect of an airline’s cargo business. Using the latest Java technology, it transforms information into a powerful asset with data fully utilised to maximise performance, raise service quality and optimise resources. Processes are streamlined and enhanced and the latest industry developments, such as IATA’s e-freight initiative, are fully supported.

Johann Wijesinghe, Head of Worldwide Cargo, SriLankan Airlines, said "SriLankan Cargo is recognised today as one of the most energetic, technologically-advanced and cost efficient freight operators in South Asia. In our business, timing is everything. This is why we are working with Mercator, which has a proven track record for development, implementation and innovation, to fulfill an ever-increasing list of customer demands."

He added " ‘SriLankan SkyChain’, which is our fully automated cargo logistic management system, will provide an integrated network of information and support services enabling our customers, no matter where they are, to always have a world of cargo services literally at their fingertips."

Other customers for Mercator’s SkyChain include Swiss World Cargo, Emirates SkyCargo and Midex.

SriLankan Airlines is the national flag carrier of Sri Lanka and flies to over 30 international destinations.

DaeX, (Destination Accommodation Exchange), Mercator’s real-time booking system for the hospitality industry, was acknowledged by the World Travel Awards (WTA) at ITB 2008 in Berlin for its innovative approach to helping hotels and their wholesalers do business together.

The WTA Innovation Award was presented to Robert Kane, Mercator’s Product Strategy Manager, by Tony Pancaldi, Director Global Projects, on March 6th.

“We are delighted to have been recognised by World Travel Awards for innovation in IT. We believe that DaeX is unique in the hospitality IT sector and it's very gratifying to see that other organisations share that belief” commented Mr. Kane.

In an exciting new partnership, Virgin Atlantic, the multi award-winning airline, has signed up for the end to end cargo management system, SkyChain. 

Mercator plans to complete implementation by the end of April 2009. The solution will be implemented in Virgin Atlantic Cargo headquarters in Crawley, England, to be used by their staff and appointed partners globally.

Duncan Alexander, Vice President, Mercator, said “The team at Virgin Atlantic put our team and our solution through an extremely rigorous selection process. We are delighted to now be their provider and look forward to implementing a business transforming solution.”

The British carrier becomes the fifth airline to join an impressive client list for Mercator's SkyChain solution, proving SkyChain to be one of the industry’s key future cargo solutions.

John Lloyd, Director of Cargo, Virgin Atlantic said “We're absolutely delighted that we will now have cutting-edge systems capabilities to support our award-winning service and staff. Our current systems have served us well, however it is time for us to move up a gear and provide our customers with the levels of connectivity they require, along with streamlined business processes and the ability to stay ahead in what is an increasingly competitive and dynamic industry.”

SkyChain, a centralised cargo reservation and business management solution, offers a number of advantages over existing systems. Benefits include compatibility with the wide host customer systems, capacity to accommodate upgrades and changes through Java architecture, and real-time access and updates, all designed to address the current needs of today's cargo customer.
 
SkyChain was built in less than two-and-a-half years and was successfully implemented in August 2006. Built by a team of over 150 IT and Cargo professionals in Dubai, an enormous effort has contributed to creating the system, making it the largest single software development project in the aviation industry in recent times.

SkyChain, built for the air cargo business of today and that of the future, is expected to make a significant difference to the air cargo industry.