Amadeus and Southwest deepen relationship with enhanced Sky Suite by Optym deal

Amadeus and Southwest deepen relationship with enhanced Sky Suite by Optym deal

Platform offers five industry-first solutions says tech giant Continue reading

US pioneering low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines has agreed to use Amadeus’s network planning technology Sky Suite by Optym.

The airline says the technology will deliver “optimal flight choices and will achieve even greater efficiency”.

Amadeus and Optym have developed a suite of tools to address the complexity of flight scheduling and to improve efficiency.

Southwest Airlines, the largest domestic air carrier in the US, has struck a 10-year agreement to use Amadeus Sky Suite by Optym.

Amadeus said the technology offers five industry-first solutions giving Southwest the “most comprehensive and advanced technology for all its network planning, simulation, forecasting and optimization needs”.

The European travel technology giant added these tools will enable the carrier to increase the efficiency and network optimisation of its more than 4,000 flights a day to 99 destinations in the US and 10 i9nternational routes.

The Amadeus Sky Suite by Optym includes SkyMAX for network optimisation, SkySYM for network simulation, SkyPLAN for frequency and capacity optimization, SkyCAST for network planning and SkyWORKS for intelligent schedule development.

The Sky Suite will be deployed using Microsoft Azure Cloud Hosting. Southwest became the first airline to implement SkyMAX and SkySYM in 2015. The enhanced deal sees a deepening of the relationship between the two companies with Southwest already an Altéa Passenger Service System (PSS) customer.

Adam Decaire, vice president network planning at Southwest Airlines, said: “These new tools will enable us to offer more to our customers through better route planning techniques and uncovering new ways to continue growing our network in a meaningful way.

“We are thrilled to continue our partnership with Amadeus and Optym and look forward to building an even stronger network planning team.”

Elena Avila, Amadeus executive vice president, airlines, Americas, added: “At Amadeus, we value the opportunity to support Southwest in its strategic investments to deliver continued growth.

“Deepening our partnership with this long-term commitment for flight scheduling is a testament to how well our companies work and innovate together. We believe airlines of all sizes, across the globe, will benefit from these innovative new technologies. Southwest is an ideal inaugural customer to demonstrate the breadth of those benefits.”

And Renzo Vaccari, senior vice president, airline solutions at Optym, said: “Together with Southwest and Amadeus, we continue to reinvent the future of network planning through our new-generation solutions.

“The value this technology provides to airlines in terms of optimization, automation and forecasting accuracy to maximize both profit and reliability is unmatched in the industry. With our unique algorithms and expertise in network planning and scheduling, we’re making what was once thought impossible, possible.”