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Whether you are new to the world of indirect distribution or whether you already have a solid strategy in place, Hahnair will take your distribution to the next level. Find out how our solutions can support your business and let our partner’s success stories inspire you.
What was your distribution situation before you partnered with Hahnair?
When we first started our airline operations we focused on our direct distribution channels and those channels that would give us access to the retail leisure market in South Africa. We realised though, that we were not able to properly engage the trade, or international consumers, without a GDS connection which is why we began to explore strategies to approach this channel. Hahnair Systems’ H1-Air product was a great way for us to be able to gain access to the full spectrum of global markets with relatively low cost of implementation. At the same time, it was a solution that was scalable and did not come with a need to establish a broad internal infrastructure to manage the day-to-day aspects of the GDS channel.
What are the benefits of the partnerships? What results did you notice?
Hahnair Systems has been very helpful in navigating some of the complexities of the GDS landscape and the integrations from their side were very professionally handled. Another aspect was the communicating to the travel agents regarding the availability of our tickets and Hahnair has been very supportive here as well. A target group that was very important for us and that we were able to reach with H1-Air, for example, were corporate travelers via the local travel trade.
Why did you decide to complement your strategy with an Interline Agreement with Hahnair?
Our intention with H1-Air was to gain quick access to the global market and to capitalise on inbound tourists and the various global OTA platforms that did not make economic sense in doing direct integrations with. The only limitation to this particular solution is the fact that with this diverse and broad distribution capability comes a mark-up which is a little harder to justify in our home market. Therefore, we decided to establish our own integrations with the two dominant GDS players in our home market whereby we could market under our own IATA code. With an interline agreement with Hahnair we were able to outsource the administration related to ticketing. This allows us to offer a more competitive product to the local market, while still managing to keep our costs contained thanks to ticketing on Hahnair’s HR-169 ticket.
What are the advantages of using both Hahnair products?
The benefit of the H1-Air product is without a doubt the scale that it offers. This solution literally puts us onto the virtual shop shelves all over the world. The HR-169 interline agreement helps us to access our local market with a more competitively priced product. Collectively the two give us the advantages of both, great global reach, and a well-priced local offer.
Kirby Gordon, VP Sales and Distribution, FlySafair
Headquartered in Shanghai, China Eastern Airlines Co., Ltd. is one of the three state-owned backbone airlines of China. Currently, China Eastern operates a fleet of approximately 800 aircrafts, which is one of the youngest fleets in the world. The airline has four hub airports in two municipalities - Beijing and Shanghai and flies to over 240 destinations in 34 countries.
How has your business developed with Hahnair?
China Eastern Airlines and Hahnair have had a 20-year partnership. Over the years, interlining sales on HR-169 tickets have continuously made contribution to our passenger revenue worldwide. Also, the extensive reach in global distribution channels of Hahnair enable us more cost efficiently access to more offline markets we want to enhance our presence. We value the partnership with Hahnair and expect our cooperation to generate more incremental revenue based on mutual benefits.
What do you appreciate about the partnership with Hahnair?
We appreciate the expanded reach in distribution world-wide and the possibility of the product combination with more airlines for our global market development thanks to the partnership with Hahnair. The diverse and broad distribution capabilities of Hahnair have been helpful for us to quickly get access to untapped markets in cost efficient way, seeking more sales opportunities and the enhancement of our brand awareness for incremental revenue. We feel well supported when working with Hahnair. Their efforts to promote the achievement of goals, professional handling of ticketing service and various issues,the efficiency of the collaboration are very impressive.
Ms. Chu Yanjin SVP, Marketing and Sales, China Eastern Airlines Co., Ltd.
Uzbekistan Airways is the flag carrier airline of Uzbekistan, headquartered in Tashkent. From its hub at Islam Karimov Tashkent International Airport (TAS), the airline serves a number of domestic destinations; the company also flies international services to Asia, Europe and North America.
What added value has Hahnair brought to you in this partnership?
Uzbekistan Airways is benefiting from the partnership with Hahnair through expanded reach in world-wide distribution channels, additional promotion of HY services, reaching new markets, and interlining with a great number of airlines on HR-169 tickets. The goal to drive sales of Uzbekistan Airways’ flights set at the dawn of our cooperation was definitely entirely achieved. Hahnair is providing a significant share of our total sales with partners, and we expect our cooperation to be progressing in line with the developments of the aviation market.
What improvements did you notice in your distribution capabilities via Hahnair
Hahnair’s distribution power brought Uzbekistan Airways access to new markets. In addition, it allowed HY to interline with airlines that are not direct partners for various route combinations of HY flights. The partnership with Hahnair helps to deliver the best product to passengers as it enables them to fly almost to any corner of the world while at the same time facilitating availability of such travel options.
In general, why do you like working with Hahnair?
Hahnair is a trustworthy partner for Uzbekistan Airways. The team is always willing to compromise and is working regularly on strengthening its service to be provided to airlines and travel agents. It’s always a pleasure to communicate with the colleagues from Hahnair and receiving prompt feedback and assistance to our requests.
Irina Korshikova - Chief Airlines Cooperation
Sunrise Airways is a regional airline based at Toussaint Louverture International Airport (PAP) in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. It serves 11 destinations in 6 countries across the Caribbean.
Any airline who is starting operations in any part of the world will be looking to expand their availability in order to expand the reach of their services as far as they can. We were no different, therefore we decided to go with H1-Air. We were already familiar with the process and expected to increase our distribution significantly. Through partnering with Hahnair, we reach more markets and reach our distribution goals with less complexity.
We like working with Hahnair because they provide the big distributions channels, they partner with most of the airlines around the world and have simple, clear processes. We also feel very well supported by internal teams like accounting and scheduling management.
Jose Reinoso - Revenue Manager
Tropic Air is the largest airline in Belize with over 30 years of experience. It is based at San Pedro Airport (SPR). The carrier serves 14 destinations in 4 countries, including Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico.
Before teaming up with Hahnair Systems we distributed through extranet accounts and direct sales (website) as well as call centers. We had no GDS presence or tool to facilitate sales via IATA agents. The partnership with Hahnair Systems (H1-Air) presented a great opportunity for us as we saw it as a first step into the IATA travel market while avoiding the risks that newcomers usually face.
We saw immediate interest from IATA agents and we became better known and trusted. We chose to be sold via the code H1 and were able to reach new markets even outside our region, for example in Europe. We achieved the best results in the North American market which immediately became our most important target region.
After we saw the benefits of indirect distribution via IATA travel agents, we decided that it was time to further acquaint ourselves with the GDS world. Therefore, we decided on complementing our strategy with an interline agreement with Hahnair (HR-169) and formed our own agreements with Amadeus, Galileo, Sabre and Worldspan.
The benefits of using both products is that with HR-169, we can control prices in the GDSs with whom we have direct agreements and we can be issued on the HR-169 ticket even in markets where we are not a member of the local BSP. For those regions with limited sales potential where we don't have agreements with the major GDSs, we can still be distributed via H1.
For the future, we are planning to invest in marketing strategies that will allow us to encourage growth in our most active GDS markets. Overall, distributing via GDSs is much more cost efficient than our traditional direct channels and we were able to reduce our cost of sales significantly.
Kurt Bautista, Operations Analyst and GDS Manager, Tropic Air, Belize
Singapore Airlines is the flag carrier of Singapore. From its base at Changi Airport (SIN) it operates an extensive network of 70 destinations in 36 countries across Asia, America, Australia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Maximising our distribution reach cost effectively is important for us. While our reach is strong in our online markets, there are plenty of untapped sales opportunities in our offline markets.
We recognise the unique proposition that Hahnair offers with its extensive international reach and strong financial standing to provide market coverage for our offline markets. After initial commercial and technical links were completed, the activation of new markets has been fast and easy, allowing us quick access to the growing offline markets.
We expect our partnership with Hahnair to grow in the coming years. Through Hahnair, we have gained access to new markets and a new source of incremental revenue.
Mr. Bryan Koh – Divisional Vice President E-Commerce and Distribution
Safarilink (F2) is Kenya's first safari airline based at Wilson Airport (WIL) in Nairobi.
Safarilink’s network of services was initially aimed at the typical tourist going on a safari in Kenya, so our schedules were to destinations such as all the major game parks, reserves and private conservancies in Kenya. Our distribution heavily depended on tour operators who handle the bulk of this market.
As our network expanded to include flights serving domestic residents and business travellers, we needed to extend our distribution to travel agents who are used to booking in the GDS. However, for a small carrier like us, the costs of joining the GDSs were prohibitive. We decided to partner with Hahnair and use their product H1-Air. The benefits were felt almost immediately, as sales increased – mostly from the travel agencies. Although some of them had direct access to our online systems, they still preferred booking through the GDSs using H1.
Over the next year, we will expand our network to domestic and regional markets and will add more of our ‘safari’ routes into Hahnair Systems’ ticketing database.
Anu Vohora, Sales and Marketing Director, Safarilink
