Kale has been repeatedly chosen as the primary solution provider for industry-wide initiatives. Kale’s in-depth domain expertise has helped the industry to evolve and address pressing needs by harnessing next generation technology.
APEX® - Neutral Fare Proration Engine for First & FinalTM Billing
A few years back, the IATA Financial Committee had launched the Revenue Accounting Vision Project to drive significant cost reduction for airlines through dramatically improving the business processes as well as quality and timeliness of information. A major thrust of the Vision Project was the improvement in the interline settlement process through “First & FinalTM Billing and Settlement” of interline transactions. The objective was to ensure the accuracy of the base data and of the processes used to evaluate interline settlement amounts, so that the carrier being billed can confidently accept the invoice without further verification. The First & FinalTM billing process drives majority of the potential industry savings from the Vision Project.
In order to establish this service for airlines, in 2003 IATA had undertaken an evaluation of the various proration engines in the market. As a result of this evaluation, IATA identified two proration engines – APEX® from Kale and CIPS from ATPCO as being equally suited to provide neutral prorate service.
Kale’s flagship solution for passenger ticket proration - APEX’s®, ability to handle the most complex Special Prorate and Code Share Agreements, was seen as one of the best solutions available in the market. The solution eliminates manual proration calculations, leading to unparalleled accuracy in interline billing and considerable productivity gains. A document that is APEXed is guaranteed to be error free and is assured to abide by all SPAs and MPAs.
In 2007, Kale and ATPCO, both IATA-endorsed proration solution providers decided to collaborate and bring further efficiencies to the Interline Billing process by offering a single Neutral Fare Proration engine – i.e. Kale’s APEX®.
As a part of the NFP process, the APEX® engine accurately prorates more than 3 million transactions per month. Today more than 35 airlines are a part of this industry process.
NFP Process Flow
Business Benefits for NFP Process
ATPCO's unique customer relationship as an airline-owned, neutral industry organisation complemented by Kale's innovative technology skills resulting in a far superior service offering for airlines
Combined expertise of two industry leaders resulting in an unparallel proration solution for clients
A simplified F&F process providing hassle free processing and accurate results improved efficiencies, reduced duplication of costs and efforts
Seamless transition to APEX®
Focused investment on product enrichment due to wider coverage of the market
Reduced overall cost of NFP due to a high rate of “First Pass Success”
Track and Trace feature highlighting decision points and values applied during various proration stages
Simplified Interline Settlement (SIS)
SIS – Enabling the future of Interline
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has chosen Kale as the prime technology supplier for the development of its industry-wide interlines settlement platform Simplified Interline Settlement (SIS) initiative.
The Simplified Interline Settlement (SIS) project aims to standardise, facilitate and expedite Interline billing and settlement in the airline industry. This initiative consolidates IATA's vision to streamline the interline settlement process and encapsulates other significant initiatives such as First & Final™, Electronic Ticketing and Weekly Settlement.
SIS – Imperative for the airline industry
IATA estimates that over 200 tons of invoices and supporting documents are being shipped each year between airlines around the world, to support the airlines' interline billing and settlement process. Moving to 100% ET has not solved the problem as the rejections process still requires paper-based supporting documents, and much that is not ticket-related is also processed, such as handling and catering. The spiraling costs, and therefore the potential for environmental and monetary savings and process improvements, are huge.
The SIS initiative envisages significant benefits/cost savings for airlines; from reduction in paper, postage and courier fees to reduction in manpower cost associated with invoice registration, document preparation, document sorting and transaction level reconciliation. This initiative will also drive faster revenue recognition and better financial information for airlines. It is estimated that over 300 airlines will be using this system after it goes live in 2010.
This section will be updated regularly with the latest news and offerings on SIS, do visit again soon.
Modernizing the interline settlement platform is an important step in our mission to simplify industry processes. The USD 500 million annual savings that SIS will generate is critical for the industry.
Tom Murphy, Senior Vice President, Industry Distribution and Financial Services,
IATA.
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