Flying high-tech

Since taking on the role of CIO of Royal Jordanian, Ahmed Abu Ragheb has transformed the airline into a high tech 21st century carrier. Diana Milne asks him how he did it.

“Royal Jordanian's senior management believes that IT is at the heart of the airline and that nowadays everything revolves around IT”
-Ahmed Abu Ragheb

Royal Jordanian has won many awards for the introduction of innovative technology to improve its services. Can you describe some of its achievements?
Ahmed Abu Ragheb. 2007 was the year that we introduced many new airline systems to assist Royal Jordanian in areas such as passenger services, cargo and back office processes. The airline joined the Oneworld Alliance in April 2007 and for that reason it needed to upgrade its systems. So we introduced a new departure system with e-ticketing facilities, a new accounting systems and a new revenue system. We were also the first airline in the region to introduce self- service kiosks at Queen Alia International Airport and Aqaba airports. We also launched a new internet booking engine so customers can make their own reservations and process their own tickets and we set up a call centre which is the entry point to Royal Jordanian for passengers or clients.

What challenges did you encounter when introducing these changes?
The biggest challenges we faced were the target dates. We needed to apply all these systems in a very short period of time and in order to do that we needed to mobilise our resources and apply scientific project management. We were very much assisted by the senior management of the company who provided us with a great deal of support. This is usually a very important factor when it comes to introducing any new technology for the airline.We succeeded in reaching our project targets and because of this we won an airline strategy award.

Why do you think you were so successful in meeting your targets?
The motivation of the staff and the fact that they are so well skilled was a big factor. Also the support from the senior management played a big part in our success. As a result of our work, the airline has definitely become more efficient. In addition to joining the Oneworld alliance Royal Jordanian has now become a profitable airline where the quality of service is immaculate. It's an excellent airline in all its products. The changes have also helped us to attract many more customers. Our passenger numbers have now increased by over 70 percent in the past three years.

How developed is Royal Jordanian's deployment of technology compared to that of other airlines in the GCC region?
I wouldn't' say that Royal Jordanian is more sophisticated. Each airline looks at their IT strategy from a different viewpoint. From our viewpoint, IT is aligned very closely to the strategy of the airline and what we want the business to achieve. Like us other airlines are also providing online services to their customers. We believe that no matter how small an airline is it should provide more or less the same services as the larger airlines. That means that the quality of your services has to be priority number one. 

How closely is the airline's IT strategy aligned with his business strategy?
Traditionally IT was driven by technology and now IT is driven by business. In other words we now look at the business, its strategies and objectives and then look at how technology can help them to meet those objectives. We are always evolving the business and so we are always bringing in new technologies.

How successful has the introduction of e-ticketing been amongst customers?
Because of e-ticketing we now have zero manual tickets. Now all the tickets are generated electronically whether that's in Jordan or wherever you are in a sales office. It is an excellent tool for customers and has proven to be very popular.

You recently introduced a group revenue management system to enable the faster and more efficient facilitation of group bookings. Can you describe how this works?
The system performs an evaluation of group booking requests and offers the best possible price for them and offers information on what space is available onboard the flight. This also helps us to better forecast what space is available to be filled by individuals. It offers more options from the reservation system and helps the analyst to select the combination of flights with the highest achievable revenue.

What is the biggest IT project you are currently working on?
We've recently signed an agreement to change our IT platform over to the Amadeus platform and this is a very big project. Most airlines within the Oneworld Alliance use the Amadeus platform and Amadeus solutions provide many beneficial features to passengers and to the airline operation. Our target is for the migration to the new platform to have taken place in October or November 2010.

How challenging will it be to achieve this goal?
It's very challenging because the project involves introducing five new IT systems. Airlines usually only do this sort of project once. It's like getting married. You do it once in a lifetime. Once it is complete there will be many improvements for passengers of Royal Jordanian. For instance they will be able to buy their ticket using other airlines for connecting flights with the web check-in. They will also be able make changes to the names of passengers online.

How are you improving the efficiency of Royal Jordanian's back office operations?
We have just launched a new Oracle ERP solution for the back office. This is aimed at improving staff efficiency for certifications, human resource management, and the data that staff have access to. 

Do the senior management of Royal Jordanian understand how important IT is to helping them to meet their business objectives?
Yes, Royal Jordanian's senior management believes that IT is at the heart of the airline and that nowadays everything revolves around IT. This includes solutions for improving revenue and solutions for cutting costs. The challenge we have been given now is to reduce the cost of the operation and IT is one way that we will be able to achieve that.

Before joining Royal Jordanian, you were Chairman for IT of the Arab Air Carriers Organisation. At that time what did you identify as the biggest technical challenge that airlines in the region face?
As Chairman of IT for the AACO I always looked at how we can assist as a group, the passenger services area, and what the best solutions are to go around it. That will always be the biggest challenge that airlines in the region face.

About Royal Jordanian
In 1963, His Majesty King Hussein of Jordan issued a Royal Decree for the setting up of a national air carrier. His words at the time were,  "I want our national carrier to be the ambassador of goodwill and the bridge across which we exchange culture, civilization, trade, technology, friendship and better understanding with the rest of the world."

Inspired by this royal vision, Alia (later renamed Royal Jordanian) launched its operations. Royal Jordanian's role as Jordan's national carrier has now long been established. Royal Jordanian's headquarters are located in the heart of the capital, Amman, and its flights are operated from Queen Alia International Airport (QAIA). Its fleet covers a network of 55 destinations on four continents. The airline owns Royal Wings, a Royal Jordanian subsidiary company dedicated to charter business, operating from Amman Civil Airport in Marka. It also owns 20% of Jordan Airline Training and Simulation Limited (JATS), 20% of Jordan Aircraft Maintenance Limited (JorAMCo), 20% of Alpha (the flight catering services company) and 6% of the Royal Jordanian Air Academy.

Going global
Royal Jordanian officially joined the Oneworld Alliance on April 1, 2007, after it completed all technical and technological requirements to become part of the grouping. It was the first Arab and regional air carrier selected to join any of the three global airline alliances (Oneworld, SkyTeam and Star Alliance), and the first airline to join Oneworld in the last five years

The airline currently has marketing alliances, through code-sharing, with several International airlines: American Airlines, British Airways, US Airways, Iberia, Malev Hungarian Airlines, Tarom, Gulf Air, Syrian Arab Airlines, and Yemen Airways. Other Oneworld alliance members include American Airlines, British Airways, Iberia, Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines.