In techie news, The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said it marked a milestone in its New Distribution Capability (NDC) initiative with the assignment by Airline Tariff Publishing Company (ATPCO) of its Open AXIS license to IATA.
Bottom line? This makes IATA the custodian of the Open AXIS XML schema, with full governance over schema evolution, including further development, maintenance and standardization efforts.
The Open AXIS license assignment to IATA is fully aligned with the decision taken at the Passenger Distribution Group (PDG) meeting in January 2013 to use Open AXIS schemas to enable NDC to deliver XML capabilities.
“XML schemas are one of the building blocks of NDC, setting the parameters for transmitting data between partners in the air travel distribution value chain," said Eric Leopold, IATA's director passenger.
He said the Open Axis framework is well-advanced and will evolve with what the industry needs to "ensure that NDC is open, robust and transparent."
Safety and Efficiency
In a separate matter, IATA's Operations Committee (OPC) identified air traffic management (ATM) capacity and efficiency improvements and harmonizing safety regulation as priority areas. The OPC meeting took place alongside the IATA Ops Conference which was jointly hosted by IATA and Austrian Airlines in Vienna.
Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and CEO said: “We simply cannot afford to accept inefficiency and waste in any aspect of our business, not if it is to be made sustainable." He stressed that everyone involved in the airline industry—and the value chain—must keep that in mind.
Key developments?
Enhanced IOSA: The IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) is marking its first decade of contributing to aviation’s commitment to continuous safety improvements. The conference strongly endorsed Enhanced-IOSA which will be implemented by September 2015.
Action Plan for the Single European Sky (SES): IATA joined with four other organizations to formulate an action plan for the SES. It includes ideas for reduction of infrastructure duplication with centralized services and using cloud technology for the Virtual Air Traffic Control Center.
The plan comes just after publishing of "A Blueprint for the Single European Sky," which recommends reducing air traffic control centers to not more than 40 from the present 63 and reducing the ratio of back-office staff to controllers from 2.4:1 to 1.6:1.
Harmonization and efficiency: Support was expressed for several key initiatives in air traffic management, safety regulation, training and operational efficiency.
The group urged the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and the European Aviation Safety Agency to take the lead in helping the industry transition to paperless operations for maintenance and technical records, as well as for aircraft transfer records between operators and states.
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