CYPRUS Airways (CY) has signed a deal to outsource its passenger revenue accounting operation to Mercator, the Dubai-based IT division of the Emirates Group, it was revealed yesterday.
According to reports from Dubai where the news was jointly announced, the airline will enjoy significant business benefits with revenue being maximised through accurate billing and verification, while accounting costs will be reduced, productivity enhanced and training costs eliminated.
Eleni Kaloyirou, Cyprus Airways’ Chief Financial Officer, said: “After exhaustively reviewing a range of revenue accounting solutions, Mercator’s Bureau Service came out as the clear winner in terms of features, functionality and pricing. That combined with their proven excellent service made our decision an easy one.
Mercator’s Revenue Accounting Bureau Service, based on its industry leading RAPID solution, converts the data printed on airline tickets into the detailed financial and strategic information an airline needs to compete effectively.
“Now we will send our data to Mercator’s dedicated Bureau Service data centre, and be assured of fast and accurate management information giving an invaluable contribution to our future strategy.”
The ISO9001 certified Bureau Service will also cut out the need for expensive hardware and software at CY.
Patrick Naef, Emirates Group’s Senior Vice-President IT: “Our revenue accounting solutions have proved to be real winners, and we now count more than 25 major airlines around the world as customers.”
“Cyprus Airways will soon be taking full advantage of the unique benefits that our outsourcing solution offers. They will be able to simply pass their ticketing data to our state-of-the-art data centres here in Dubai, and can rest assured that our professionals will take care of the rest.”
Mercator’s service already supports Emirates, Olympic Airways, Valuair, Virgin Nigeria and Air Tahiti Nui. It is managed by IT, financial and airline experts with extensive experience, and the company has recently become a founder member of the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals.
The outsourcing of part of the CY accounts branch is part of the airline’s controversial rescue package, which provides for axing of around one third of jobs.
Under the plan nearly half of the 150 people in CY accounts branch were to be let go.
The company has been at loggerheads with pilots over different interpretations of what was agreed in terms of pay cuts for them. Following a 24-hour strike on Saturday over the issue, management agreed to respond to their query for clarification and to open a dialogue.
Pilots union PASIPY said yesterday they were currently examining the answers and would take a few days to consider them before responding to the airline. “At first glance they do not seem satisfactory but we have to look at them more closely,” said PASIPY chairman Polis Economou yesterday.
??
??
??
??
