InterGlobe frontrunner for AI's ticketing deal

Mumbai:InterGlobe Technology, which also operates the domestic airline IndiGo, has emerged as the front-runner for Air India’s ticketing and
package booking services tender.
National Aviation Company of India (Nacil), the merged entity that controls Air India, had floated a contact centre services tender for domestic and international callers last year. The tender will be opened this month. After the merger of Indian Airlines with Air India, Nacil had wanted to set up a common call centre for both the state-owned airlines.
A highly-placed source said that InterGlobe Technology is likely to be awarded the contract. The winning bidder will undertake ticketing and package booking services for Air India and receive a 2% commission on the transaction amount.
The other bidders are Azure Technologies, Intelenet Global Services, I Energizer, Omnia BPO and First Source. Nacil had floated the tender last September and the bids closed on October 6. But not everyone seems to be keen that the contract goes to InterGlobe. Some senior Air India officials are apprehensive that if InterGlobe wins the contract it would be easily able to access the entire data of Air India customers.
And there may be enough reason to justify their fears. Some industry experts point out that three years back when Captain GR Gopinath launched low-cost carrier Air Deccan, he had selected InterGloble to do the reservation and ticketing for his airline. After servicing Air Deccan for a year, InterGlobe itself launched its own airline named IndiGo, they added. Once IndiGo took off, the Air Deccan IT and reservations system started collapsing and Captain Gopinath realised that his passengers were moving to IndiGo, the experts said.
14/01/09 Mithun Roy/Economic Times

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Categories: Indigo Airlines Jan 2009, NACIL Jan 2009