1. Business Value Exchange presents HP Enterprise Services case studies
HP Helps Send
Thomas Cook’s
Customer Service
Sky High

3. Business Value Exchange presents HP Enterprise Services case studies
The challenge
Thomas Cook needed a smart technical
solution to streamline its departure control
system in order to reduce costs, simplify
administration and improve customer service.
It’s a challenging time for the
world’s airlines. Many of them
are struggling with the demand of
keeping revenues ahead of costs.
According to the International Air
Transport Association (IATA), the
average airline earns $4 for every
passenger carried. That’s “less
than the cost of a sandwich in most
places” according to IATA’s CEO
Tony Tyler.
to take action and find a technology
driven solution that would deliver on
these points:
Simplify administration
Reduce costs
Improve customer service
Passenger numbers are rising - this
year they topped three billion for
the first time - but so are fuel prices.
Governments are imposing ever more
stringent legislation around passenger
and data security. Yet the onus is still
on airlines to produce great customer
experiences, save money and simplify
administration demands.
One of the world’s leading travel
companies, Thomas Cook, decided
The challenge:
Simplify administration
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4. Business Value Exchange presents HP Enterprise Services case studies
Identifying complexity
This was no easy task. Thomas Cook
has a global footprint, operating four
airlines with 92 aircraft. In the past
business year it carried 17.3 million
passengers to 150 destinations. In
order to reduce inefficiencies across
its various operations, Thomas
Cook decided to implement a single
Departure Control System for all
its airlines.
“We had more than 30 different Departure
Control Systems worldwide, operated by our
service providers and handling agents. Running
so many different systems was not cost
efficient. It was like sitting behind a wall where
we couldn’t really see what was happening
across the network. With cost pressures and
increasing administrative demands as the two
main challenges, we needed one single system.”
– Oliver Stroebel Head of passenger process and systems at Condor Flugdienst
(part of the Thomas Cook Group)
The challenge:
Reduce costs
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5. Business Value Exchange presents HP Enterprise Services case studies
The solution
Thomas Cook turned to HP Enterprise
Services to provide a Departure Control
System that would enable it to simplify
processes and improve customer experiences.
After an extensive search Thomas
Cook opted for HP’s Departure
Control System, axsControl. It was
a solution that ticked all the boxes
for Thomas Cook. It supports the
whole process of passenger, baggage
and aircraft handling in real-time
and is already used by the airline
industry to support more than 65
million passengers and 700,000
flights a year. More importantly it
consolidated 30 worldwide departure
systems into one centralised system.
Among its many functions are a
Graphical User Interface (GUI) for
check-in, electronic ticket handling
and the printing of boarding passes
and baggage tags. It supports
passport scanning and facilitates
through checking for multi-flight
journeys. Aircraft management
includes baggage reconciliation
and a fully integrated weight and
balance system with automated load
planning. The system also supports
all the post departure activities,
including automated dispatch of
all IATA standard messages and
automatically updating reservation
and e-ticket data.
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6. Business Value Exchange presents HP Enterprise Services case studies
“Replacing the previous 30 systems with the
HP Departure Control System brings a saving
of between 10 and 20 per cent. Administration
is simpler and more efficient and, because
we now have fewer interfaces to different
systems, we reduce the complexity.” – Oliver Stroebel
The solution:
Automate services with Graphical
User Interfaces for increased
efficiency
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7. Business Value Exchange presents HP Enterprise Services case studies
Improving the customer experience
Thomas Cook achieved savings
of between 10 and 20 per cent by
replacing 30 systems with one. It
also made administration simpler
and more efficient. It needed less
manpower to manage and update the
systems and gave the company more
visibility on what happens at the
airports and the current situation of
each flight.
Condor Flugdienst - a Thomas Cook
Group airline based in Germany - is
now able to implement passenger
services that were not previously
possible without a lot of complex
workarounds. These include
online and kiosk check-in and also
interlining, the process whereby
passengers travelling on itineraries
requiring multiple airlines can buy
just one ticket. Interline passengers
then have the comfort of through
baggage check-in and boarding
passes for all onward connections.
Since most Condor business is
vacation charter, passengers nearly
always opt for full baggage check-in
and, on average, the HP Departure
Control System automation
reduces this by about five seconds
per passenger. With 17 million
passengers per year this amounts
to a cumulative saving of nearly
1,000 days, resulting in shorter
queues and decreased wait times.
“The greatest benefit of all this is that the
customer has a smooth, enjoyable and safe
journey.” – Oliver Stroebel
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8. Business Value Exchange presents HP Enterprise Services case studies
Better safety and efficiency
The Departure Control System
enables Thomas Cook to further
build safety and efficiency into its
processes. It provides cabin crew
with precise details on special
passenger requirements and
improves flight safety by providing
a crucial single database for weight
and balance information, including
seat maps. It also helps comply with
ever-increasing security regulations.
Another new facility, ‘The Green
Procedure’, helps Condor eliminate
flight delays when luggage has
to be unloaded for passengers
who have not boarded the plane.
Baggage loaders are equipped with
handheld devices and HP Enterprise
Services has customised the system
so they receive notification when
individual passengers pass through
the boarding gate. They scan the
baggage containers and cross-check
with the passenger data so no
container is loaded before all the
passengers are on-board, avoiding
the delay and cost of searching
hundreds of items in the hold if
someone does not board.
The solution:
Introduce new baggage loading
technology to avoid flight delays
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9. Business Value Exchange presents HP Enterprise Services case studies
Thomas Cook turned 30 departure control
systems into just one by introducing an HP
Enterprise Services solution, saving between
10 and 20 per cent on running costs, simplifying
administration and boosting efficiency.
Thomas Cook’s system runs on dual mainframe
processors in different HP locations in Zurich and
connects to airports across TCP/IP internet links.
The system is already trusted by other airlines
to support more than 65 million passengers
and 700,000 flights a year.
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10. Business Value Exchange presents HP Enterprise Services case studies
Our new case study series looks at the real benefits
that organisations have gained from modernising
their IT systems - not just estimates and predictions.
Accurate planning and careful risk assessment
need real data, not guesswork.
Your organisation can benefit from the example of others. That’s why we’ve
provided case studies from a cross-section of industries and sectors, from
supply chain management and high fashion, to benefit provision and education.
Take a look at more of our resources on the
Business Value Exchange website.
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