Transcript Slide 1

Challenges & Achievements
Who we are ?
•The Arab Air Carriers Organization “AACO”,
established in 1965 within the framework of the
Arab League, It is the Regional Association of the
Arab Airlines who have their home base in
countries members of the Arab League.
• AACO’s headquarters is located in Beirut Lebanon, while Amman- Jordan is the base of
AACO Regional Training Center, and very soon
branches for the training center will be established
in other Arab cities.
•AACO is a non governmental organization.
•AACO is a not for profit organization.
•AACO is the trade association of the Arab
Airlines.
AACO’s Mission
To Promote Cooperation amongst Arab airlines
and to serve their common interests through
service excellence.
AACO's Objectives
• To promote the highest safety standards.
• To provide a framework for a better economic
environment for airline operations.
• To promote high standards of consumer driven
services.
• To provide high quality and cost effective
framework for human resources development.
• To invest in the synergy of interaction between
members through establishment of joint projects.
AACO is having 23 member airlines , which were
established in the following sequence:
•EgyptAir (1932)
•Saudi Arabian Airlines (1945)
•Middle East Airlines (1945)
•Iraqi Airways (1945)
• Syrian Arab Airlines (1946)
•Sudan Airways (1946)
•Tunis Air (1948)
•Gulf Air (1950)
•TMA (1953)
•Air Algerie (1953)
•Kuwait Airways (1954)
•Royal Air Maroc (1957)
• Yemen Airways (1962)
•Royal Jordanian (1963)
•Libyan Arab Airlines (1964)
•Emirates (1985)
•Oman Air (1993)
•Qatar Airways (1995)
•Palestinian Airways (1995)
•Jordan Aviation (2000)
•Afriqyah Airways (2001)
•Etihad Airways (2003)
•Air Arabia (2003)
AACO Committees :
AACO works through several standing Committees
namely:
• Commercial Affairs Committee
•Technical Committee
•Information Technology Committee
•Services Committee
• Planning & Development of Human Resources
Committee
• Financial Affairs and Economic planning Committee
AACO is serving its members using the critical
mass created by the increasing number of AACO
members, where we had more than 11 Joint
purchase projects .
Joint Distribution agreements
• in 1990 started the 1st joint project , it was the
distribution agreement with Galileo, one of the
major DCSs in the Middle East area.
•8 airlines are Members of the Galileo distribution
agreement.
Followed by another agreement with Amadeus.
•6 airlines are members of Amadeus distribution
agreement.
Joint Fuel Purchase program
• 17 airlines are joining this project.
•470 million gallons to be purchased by AACO
carriers during the year 2007.
•Covers 540 international airport.
•More than 17 million dollars estimated savings
during 2007.
Joint MIDT processing
•Marketing Intelligence Data (Tapes) Transfer
(MIDT) allows airlines to conduct deep analysis of
the information and provide decision making tool.
•Participating airlines ( seven member carriers who
are GF, KU, ME, RJ, SV, IY, and MS) benefit from
economies of scale under umbrella of AACO
including joint training, and savings on the
processing cost.
•Extra options had been added to the product free
of charge during 2007 , as another achievement for
the group.
AACO Regional Training Center ( RTC )
•Established in 1996 through a contribution of
EU, Airbus and Boeing.
•Trained more than 12,000 trainee.
•Savings for Members in 2006 only more than
6.5 million US dollars.
•Provide cost effective quality training , and
education services with reputable universities.
Joint Cooperation at Outstations
•14 member airlines benefits from the project.
•5 stations are currently served , including
London/Heathrow, Athens, Istanbul,
Rome/Fiumicino, and Frankfurt.
•The future plan includes more stations in France,
USA , Philippines, Pakistan, Russia, and more.
•Annual savings of approximately US 11 Million.
Joint IOSA Implementation
•AACO approached the accredited audit
organizations and obtained about 35% discount
on the auditing fees.
•Training for IOSA had been offered through
AACO RTC at very competitive rates, as well as
free programs for preparation of Local staff
Instructors for the airlines to cover ongoing
training activities, such as DGR and AVSEC.
The Customer Systems Task Force
A consultancy study was conducted by Unisys,
and was based on a contract with 10 AACO
carriers, under AACO’s umbrella.
The study focused on future passenger solutions
and distribution services for airlines, including
studying the current situation of GDSs.
The Task Force assignment was split into four
modules, E-Ticketing, IBE, Core systems and
GDS relations.
A. Common Use Self kiosks (CUSS):
As a post integrated action to the E-Ticketing
issue, AACO is approaching vendors and has
initiated negotiations for the deployment of
common use self service Kiosks at Arab airports.
B. Core Systems:
AACO realizes that the Arab airlines need to be up
to date with their core systems to be able to
compete effectively, and AACO CS taskforce has
been involved in an extensive action plan and
reached perfect agreement with 4 major providers.
Discounts for AACO carriers per booking fee
between 10 and 30%, while discounts on the
additional services and options of the system were
between 30 and 80%.
C. Internet Booking Engines:
AACO had negotiated on behalf of its members,
with different vendors to receive commercial
proposals on implementing IBEs and related
payment gateways.
Agreement had been done with 4 providers for
pricing per transaction ( transaction fee).
Also AACO had opened channels of negotiations
with several Banks to get better offers.
D. Distribution:
Distribution environment is changing through
direct distribution channels and low cost
distribution models. The existing AACO
distribution agreements will expire in 2008.
AACO had negotiated new distribution
agreements with Amadeus, Galileo and Sabre,
and had reached better deal than the current
situation .
Negotiations with other models of distribution
is currently taking place for internet booking
and low cost models…..etc.
Arabesk" Network Cooperation Project
Arabesk is a commercial network cooperation
involving seven Arab airlines, that helps the
member airlines strengthen their competitive
position.
Airlines currently involved are EgyptAir, Gulf
Air, Middle East Airlines, Royal Jordanian
Airlines, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Yemen
Airways, and Tunis Air. Other airlines have also
expressed interest in membership as Afriqiyah
Airways , and will follow the application
procedure.
Arabian Air Pass Agreement
The AACO Arabian Air Pass agreement is a
special multilateral agreement on fares as a
statement of commercial cooperation in
promoting travel on six airlines' networks, and
encouraging tourism to the Arab region.
The agreement is applied worldwide on board of
the six carriers namely: Air Algerie, Libyan Arab
Airlines, Qatar Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Tunis
Air and Sudan Airways.
Technical Cooperation
The Technical Committee is starting a joint
purchase of "Flight Planning Systems" and
"Route manual". And got discounted rate on
Jeppesen charts for airports, and is negotiating
joint purchase of the pilots electronic kit.
The committee is also embarking on aircraft
rental exchange between AACO members through
dedicating a page on AACO's website to show all
aircraft details of AACO members.
Joint purchase of English Tests for pilots & ATCs
AACO had reached an agreement with a Belgian
provider ( Aerosolutions) for on-line testing product
needed for the Aviation English Language
Proficiency required by ICAO before March 2008.
As well Training for pilots and ATCs who failed to
comply with level 4 is available with competitive
rates, which resulted in large savings for airlines and
CAAs.
This project will be offered as well to states member
of ACAC.
Commercial cooperation activities
AACO had organized more than 32 meetings
between member carriers for concluding interline
agreements and SPAs in light with the new ETicketing environment, 10 airlines had
participated in those agreements, and rest are
following.
Those airlines are, Syrian Arab airlines, EgyptAir,
Royal Jordanian airlines, Libyan Airlines, Middle
East Airlines, Kuwait Airways, Yemen Airways,
Oman Air, Gulf Air and Afriqiyah Airways
Industry Partners
AACO has established the Industry Partnership
Program in 1998. It enables the members of the
program to be invited to our technical forum
meetings and to our General Assembly attended
by the CEOs and Senior Executives of our 23
member airlines. The program includes now more
than 40 partners which include service providers,
aircraft and engine manufacturers, reservations
systems and more.
AACO’s Aero-political Role
AACO places a great deal of importance to its
relationships with international and regional
organizations namely: ICAO, IATA, ACAC,
European Commission, US DOT and Airlines’
Regional Organizations. Some issues on the table
are, the future of Euro-Arab relations regarding
bilateral agreements, ACAC Code of Conduct
ratification by the Arab States, Cape Town
Convention and its ratification, and the new pro-rate
methodology agreements.
Arab European Negotiations
AACO is currently pursuing two major issues,
namely to allow Arab states to appoint other
Arab airlines on European sectors under a code
share arrangement with the concerned Arab
national airline, and to stress on the importance
of "equal opportunities" concept in operations
between Arab and European operators. A joint
meeting amongst ACAC / AACO and the EC
dialogue group will be held in Brussels soon, after
the finalization of the restructuring of ACAC, as
EU requests that ACAC to be represented during
these meetings.
International Cooperation
AACO has established strong relations with
major Associations and Authorities in the
Aviation industry, coordinating respectively
positions and initiatives on regional and
international levels seeking the interest of its
member airlines.
AACO has on-going coordination with IATA, and
the Airlines' Regional Associations being sister
organizations to AACO. AACO has established
permanent dialogue with governmental
organizations such as the Council of the Arab
Transport Ministers, the Arab Civil Aviation
Commission, the European Commission, US
DOT and Eurocontrol. The relations with these
Authorities help in making the voice of the Arab
Airlines heard while these organizations are in
the decision making process and also help in
defending the interest of the Arab Airlines before
these bodies.
Thank you