SINGAPORE (May 17): 2.2 million seats are left unsold every day around the world, translating to significant lost revenue for thousands of commercial airlines globally.
Now, there is now an app that lets passengers seek bargain airfares by bidding for last-minute left over seats while helping airlines fill empty seats at the same time.
ATA.ONE is currently only available in Europe and the Middle East.
The company has four airline customers to date — Croatia Airlines, Montenegro Airlines, Iberia and Azerbaijan Airlines — and the app is connected to their inventory (unfilled seats).
However if talks between the UK-based technology company that created it and Malaysia-based airlines are successful, the app may soon be available for download there.
ATA.ONE managing director Kresimir Budinski says the company has approached Malaysia’s three key airlines — Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia Group and Malindo Airways — with the hope of securing them as its first airline customers in Southeast Asia.
It is still early days, but he says the talks have been positive.
“The solution is, in fact, attracting new customers that they never had before. The airlines also determine the minimum price they are willing to accept for the unsold seats, as well as the number of seats and flights they would like to offer on our distribution platform, so there will be no cannibalisation,” Budinski tells The Edge Malaysia in an interview.
According to him, the platform is a “low-risk, free solution” for airlines as it is fully automated.
Fares purchased via the ATA.ONE app can be 40% to 60% cheaper than a regular airline ticket. Each time a seat is sold through an ATA.ONE bid, the passenger pays a small commission to the company.
“The seats are only sold at prices that are within the airline’s acceptable profit margins, and there is no cost to airlines or passengers until a match occurs and e-tickets are issued,” he adds.
Where does Budinski intend to take ATA.ONE in the longer-term, and what else is the company doing to address the major concern airlines that the platform might cannibalise their current sales?
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