The Covid-19 pandemic has devastated economies around the World and disrupted life in ways that were unimaginable just a few months ago. Air travel, and the World for that matter, will never be the same again. But as industries are starting to come back online, people will need to travel again. Yes, people will fly again, but industry experts believe the travel experience could be permanently transformed, perhaps more than it was after September 11. Will there still be a place for O & D revenue management?
Despite airports revamping their safety protocols and procedures to earn passengers’ trust and avoid the virus’ spread, the risk still remains high, especially at major hub airports (like Dubai) where the sheer volume of transiting passengers and lengthy testing procedures will undoubtedly lead to passengers opting for direct flights instead.
So, what does this mean for airlines and specifically for O & D Revenue Management?
It’s no secret that O&D Revenue Management Systems are very complex to operate, and the jury is still out whether it adds any additional value to airlines operating non-hub-and-spoke route networks. We have recently seen very prominent airlines ditching O&D Revenue Management and with a market that’s now predicted to move more towards direct flights, it might just be the tipping point for many others to join the movement and ditch their O&D Revenue Management methodology.
As travel patterns are predicted to become simpler, airlines will also be looking at implementing different Revenue Management methodologies and simplifying their Revenue Management processes. Airlines will be looking at reducing all the “noise” and the focus will return to what is truly important, i.e. reliable segment forecasts coupled with a powerful inventory optimisation engine to ensure revenues are maximised on every flight.
This has exactly been our focus at Maxamation for the past 23 years and with a brand-new web-based Revenue Management system being rolled out, we are more geared than ever to assist any size airline around the World to earn more revenues from every flight.
