Mercator, a part of the Emirates Group, will provide its market leading revenue accounting services, RAPID, to the national flag carrier of Bangladesh, Biman Bangladesh Airlines.
The agreement was announced during IATAs 2nd Integrated Settlement Week, the largest annual event for the international revenue accounting community, which was held from 2-6 December in Montreal, Canada.
“Mercator is delighted to provide Biman with a revenue accounting technology to realise their long term financial objectives,” said Patrick Naef, Divisional Senior Vice President Emirates Group IT and Head of Mercator.
“Our dedicated team has a deep understanding of the challenges facing airline expansion in the industry, and also the experience to create technologies that can provide support as their operations continue to scale in size. We look forward to accompanying Biman on the road to greater success,” he added.
“This is a positive step forward for Biman. We needed a robust system to support our growth plans for expansion, and our decision to select Mercator as a partner is based on their worldwide reputation as a premier provider of revenue accounting services and their recent launch of the upgraded version of RAPID 3.0,” said Kevin Steele, Managing Director and CEO of Biman Bangladesh Airlines.
“We believe Mercator’s IT solutions will give us the tools to realise our revenue objectives, and free our resources to focus on providing our customers with an overall better experience”.
A member of IATA, Biman flies passengers and cargo to 18 international destinations in Asia and Europe from its base in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. Despite external challenges, Bangladeshi tourism continues to flourish with Biman carrying over 1.4 million passengers every year. To cater to growing demand and market opportunities, Biman has been looking at areas to improve their services and position themselves alongside leading Asian carriers. Such initiatives included significant fleet and network expansion, and major upgrades to their IT systems.
RAPID lays down a firm financial foundation from which airlines can make informed strategic decisions, build their operations and concentrate on the core of their business: getting passengers safely to their destinations. It also ensures a continual and timely flow of information, providing accurate financial results. The flexibility in the RAPID technology means that it does not only support carriers in their existing daily operations, but also future operations, as an airline seeks to grow its network.
Mercator, part of the Emirates Group, is a provider of business technology solutions and services to the global airline industry. With offices in Dubai and Bangkok, Mercator powers the IT systems of 130 plus airlines in 80 countries across six continents. Mercator’s clients include award-winning carriers, hybrid and low-cost, regional, national and international airlines.
Founded in 1995, Mercator was created to support Emirates and Dnata. Mercator’s aviation heritage allows unequalled insight into what is required to ensure smooth processes and maximise airline profits.
Mercator’s teams of IT professionals developed an extensive portfolio of safety, passenger, cargo, CRM and finance solutions, testing them in the real world to help get passengers and cargo to their destinations – safely and on time.
Biman Bangladesh Airlines, popularly known as Biman, is the national airlines of Bangladesh. A member of IATA, it flies passengers and cargo to 18 international destinations in Asia and Europe. It goes to most of the destinations directly or via a stopover. Convenient transfer connections from Dhaka to regional destinations are easily available. Biman is reputed for its well-trained and dedicated crew with appreciable safety record.
Biman came into being on January 04, 1972 with a gift of DC-3 aircraft from Bangladesh Air force. Presently Biman has two 777-300ER, two 737-800, two A310-300, and two DC10-30 aircraft in its fleet. Biman is in the process of procuring more new generation aircraft such as Boeing 777-300ER, 787-8 and 737-800 for its fleet.
The airline’s Reservation and Departure Control System and other communication systems are fully computerized. Biman is now striving to make the airline more attractive to its valued passengers by fixing priority on providing more comfort and maintaining schedule regularity.
Biman does entire maintenance work on its F-28 aircraft. Biman is also doing C-check, D-check on DC10-30 and A310-300 in its hangar complex at Dhaka. Checks, repair and maintenance of one DC10-30, one wide bodied Boeing and two F-28 aircraft can be done simultaneously there.
In addition to its own aircraft, Biman’s ground-handling unit also provides support to Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, Malaysia Airlines, Qatar Airways, Emirates, Kuwait Airways, Oman Air, Saudia, Gulf Air, PIA, Indian Airlines, Dragon Air, Druk Air, etc.at HazratShahjalalInternationalAirport, Dhaka.
Biman Flight Catering Center (BFCC) has the capacity of producing 8500 meals a day and is providing cuisine not only to Biman but also to Saudia, Etihad, Malaysia Airlines, Thai Airways, Emirates, Dragon Air and China Southern Airlines.
Biman Bangladesh Airlines Training Center (BATC) has been training its ground, flight service and technical personnel to meet the growing needs of Biman’s manpower,. The center has also been turned into a seat of training and technical seminars for local travel agents and some foreign airlines.
Biman Poultry Complex, a subsidiary of Biman was formed in 1976 and was put into operation in November 1980 to create a profit earning concern to augment the cash flow of Biman. The complex is situated 40 km north-west away from DhakaCity over 75 acres of land at Ganakbari, Savar, Dhaka.
Courtesy: eTN
