Mercator, the commercial arm of Emirates Group IT, said it has developed a fully integrated cargo revenue management solution in partnership with US-based Revenue Technology Services.

The system, currently being implemented by launch customer Emirates SkyCargo, results in the Mercator SkyChain product becoming one of the world’s first fully integrated cargo solutions.

It will allow airlines using SkyChain to manage their cargo operations with the benefit of being able to fully optimize costs, increase operational efficiencies, and maximize revenues and profitability.

The new solution will roll-out to Mercator’s global customer-base in the first quarter of the year, said a senior official. 

“We selected RTS as a partner because of the company’s diverse experience and demonstrated success in the field of revenue and profit management,” remarked Duncan Alexander, VP of Mercator.

The partnership with RTS, he said, puts Mercator at the industry forefront by offering customers a cargo revenue management solution tightly integrated with an airline’s core booking and operations process.

“The demand forecasting, overbooking, allotment management, and bid price optimization engines from RTS revenue management software have been integrated within SkyChain to provide an integrated, web-based interface, end-to-end cargo solution,” he added.

This is a significant step for the industry, as it does away with the current practice of integrating with third party revenue management products and the large associated costs and overheads usually involved.

Pradeep Kumar, senior VP of Cargo at Emirates SkyCargo said, "With the introduction of the revenue optimisation, on our capacity contrained flights our sales teams will have the advantage of be able to optimize flight revenue."

"This feature will, in turn, influence sales techniques and behaviour, representing a huge and beneficial cultural shift for both our people in the field and our valued customers," he added.-TradeArabia News Service