Airline industry to invest just 1.8 per cent of revenue in 2010

Martin Courtney, Computing, Friday 25 June 2010 at 16:45:00

Virtualisation and cloud computing have made little impact so far

The Airline IT Trends Survey 2010 published this week suggests that
airline operational IT spend will represent just 1.8 per cent of revenue in
2010, flat year on year, giving IT vendors selling into the industry little
cause for optimism.

Many airline systems remained locked on legacy mainframe systems and
databases, with cost-saving consolidation initiatives that have been widely
implemented in other industries such as virtualisation and cloud computing
having made little impact so far.

These large-scale infrastructure upgrades are being delayed in favour of
low-cost software implementations around check-in and ticketing applications for
mobile devices, as well as improving aircraft supply chain management, and
adding social networking elements to web services to streamline operational
costs and steal customers from rivals.

?It is the lack of executive support which is critical ? IT projects need the
blessing of the CFO and the CEO or they face an uphill battle,? said Henry
Harteveldt, vice president and principal analyst at research company Forrester.
?It is hard to get funding for basic things, let alone new technology
challenges.?

British Airways CIO Paul Coby also sits on the board at SITA ? a specialist
airline travel industry ICT provider. He argued that ATI companies need to work
together to build interoperable IT systems and applications on common
standards, which will help passengers get through airports more easily as well
as streamline cargo, baggage and aircraft engineering operations.

Full story at http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2265513/airline-indusstry-won-invest