DUBAI, U.A.E. (date) May, 2006: Africa’s biggest airline, South African Airways (SAA), is the latest customer for the RAPID revenue accounting solution developed by Mercator, the IT division of the Emirates Group.

South African Airways has selected the passenger revenue accounting version of the industry leading system as part of its current initiative to streamline processes, drive down costs and meet stringent auditor requirements.

Tryphosa Ramano, South African Airways’ Chief Financial Officer, said: “Revenue accounting is a key factor in our ongoing success, and Mercator’s RAPID will become one of the most critical systems within South African Airways. It will give us a stream of valuable financial and strategic information, allowing us to compete effectively in an increasingly competitive market.”

The RAPID system takes the information printed on airline passenger tickets and analyses it to produce valuable management information. Benefits to South African Airways include the swift determination of revenue, boosted productivity and efficiency, slashed accounting costs and refined processes.

Implementation has already started and will be completed by August 2006. As an interim measure during this time, South African Airways will use Mercator’s outsourced revenue accounting service operated from its data centres in Dubai.

Once implementation has been completed, SAA also has the option to provide outsourced revenue accounting services to its alliance partners such as Air Tanzania, Airlink and South African Express.

Patrick Naef, Senior Vice President IT of Mercator, said: “This deal confirms our belief that our unequalled product quality, combined with more than two thousand man-years of revenue accounting experience, makes us the first choice supplier for airline revenue accounting bureau services.”

South African Airways was established in 1934 and was one of the first national airlines in the world. It flies to 34 cities in 26 countries, using a modern fleet of 58 aircraft. The airline carries more than seven million passengers a year.

South African Airways joins Mercator’s growing list of customers for its accounting systems, which includes airlines such as Emirates, SriLankan, British Airways, Qantas, Air New Zealand, Malaysia Airlines and Singapore Airlines.

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