State of the art air reservation system to revolutionise booking procedures

Sharjah, 24 June, 2006 - Air Arabia LLC, the first low-fares airline in the Middle East and North Africa, have announced that Information Systems Associates (ISA), a joint venture of Air Arabia and John Keells Holdings, have developed a new reservation system 'AccelAero' for low cost airlines that provides multi-selling channels through the Internet, travel agencies and call centres.

'AccelAero' will facilitate flight scheduling, finance and operational functionalities and capabilities across various point-of-sale channels and is customised to serve the business goals of low-cost airlines. Air Arabia, thus, becomes the first ISA customer to use the tailor-made system.

The primary business focus of ISA is to provide vital IT solutions to the aviation industry and 'AccelAero' seamlessly combines Air Arabia's experience in the airline sector with the IT expertise of JKH to form a system that meets the needs and requirements of low cost airlines.

In his comments on the new initiative, Mr. Adel Ali, CEO of Air Arabia, said: "As we grow in the market, one of the crucial elements fuelling our success is our ability to remain agile within an ever-changing environment. Of necessity, it's a business built upon adaptability - one that can react efficiently based on customer demand, as well as one that can adjust quickly to new business needs. As we focus on streamlined operations to ensure that savings are passed on to customers through lower fares, we are happy to implement this new system for our customers' benefits."

The specialised system, yet another successful initiative by Air Arabia, aims to ensure that the airline continues to serve the needs of its customers without any glitches.

Speaking on the new system, Mr. Ali Al Hamdany, Director of IT and Corporate Projects at Air Arabia, said: "The airline reservation system is one of the most time and mission-critical elements of an airline. Any downtime comes at tremendous cost. The new reservation system developed by ISA is not only time-efficient but is adaptable to various selling channels and various other business needs. Service is a key towards keeping our customers satisfied." 

Talking about the tie-up, Mr. Dhananjaya Chandrasekara, VP John Keells, said: "We are delighted that the first implementation of AccelAero went so smoothly; exceeding expectations of our customer. We are confident we have the capability and flexibility to deliver the support that will help Air Arabia fly high and work the way they want it to work, worldwide."

"At ISA, we have technical domain experts from JKH coupled with Air Arabia's airline domain experts, bringing in superior solutions to the market. AccelAero's design, based on tiered architecture together with its clustered implementation environment, will avoid any single point of failure. AccelAero can be easily extended to accommodate future requirements thanks to its modularised framework," stated Mr. Milinda Gunasena who headed ISA's AccelAero project development.

The new reservation system is also available to other low cost airlines whether they are existing or coming new to the market.

Current Air Arabia destinations include Aleppo and Damascus (Syria); Alexandria, Assiut, Luxor and Sharm El Sheikh (Egypt); Amman (Jordan); Astana and Almaty (Kazakhstan); Bahrain; Beirut (Lebanon); Colombo (Sri Lanka); Dammam, Jeddah and Riyadh (KSA), Doha (Qatar); Istanbul (Turkey); Kabul (Afghanistan); Khartoum (Sudan); Kuwait; Mumbai , Nagpur, Jaipur and Kochi (India); Muscat (Oman); Sana'a (Yemen); Sharjah (UAE) and Tehran (Iran). In May we have also started flights to Kabul (Afghanistan), Jaipur and Kochi (India) and to Europe with Istanbul (Turkey).

Fly Air Arabia to experience the best in regional air travel from quick and easy online booking to brand new Airbus A320 aircraft. Air Arabia offers tremendous opportunities to travellers who are looking for competitive fares, making air travel more convenient and frequent, while providing the lowest fares in the market with a strong focus on quality and service.

For information or bookings contact Air Arabia's Call Centre in Sharjah on (+971 6) 5580000 or log on to the website www.airarabia.com, or visit Air Arabia sales centres and appointed travel agents.

-Ends-

About Air Arabia LLC
Air Arabia LLC was established as a full-fledged commercial airline of the United Arab Emirates on 3rd February, 2003 by an Ameeri decree issued by His Highness Dr. Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Ruler of Sharjah and Member of the Supreme Council of the UAE. The airline commenced operations on 28th October 2003 and the current fleet consists of six brand new A320 aircraft flying directly to destinations in Bahrain, Egypt, India, Iran, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Turkey and Yemen.

About ISA
Information Systems Associates (ISA), headquartered in Sharjah, is a joint venture between Air Arabia - the first low-fares airline in the Middle East and North Africa - and John Keells Holdings (JKH), Sri Lanka's largest conglomerate. ISA specialises in aviation software with the aim of providing best-fit solutions for various needs of the aviation industry.

For more information, please contact
 Remus D'Cruz, Bates PanGulf PR,
Tel: +971-4-295 3456;
Fax: +9714-295 1027,
Mobile: +971-50-7031574
E-mail: remus@batespangulf.com

© Press Release 2006