BA - Airline Ticket Processing

On a daily basis BA receives around 150,000 flight coupons from around the world which require processing. Around 15,000 of these were sold by other airlines so BA must undertake the laborious, yet vital task of recovering their value.

"This initiative builds upon the long term relationship that we have enjoyed with BancTec. BA will benefit from the use of the very latest technology, which in turn will drive out further efficiencies in our processing."
Peter Penn, Revenue Accountant at BA

The Client:
British Airways (BA) is the UK’s largest international airline carrying around 36 million passengers worldwide to over 550 destinations. As one of the world’s longest established airlines, it has always been regarded as an industry-leader. The airline's two main operating bases are London's two main airports, Heathrow (the world's biggest international airport) and Gatwick.


The Process:
Airline ticket processing and billing-cycle.

The Challenge:
On a daily basis BA receives around 150,000 flight coupons from around the world which require processing. Around 15,000 of these were sold by other airlines so BA must undertake the laborious, yet vital task of recovering their value.

The Solution:
In the past, BA handled the entire ticket processing and billing cycle in-house. As part of a widely publicised worldwide efficiency drive, BA recognised that outsourcing would provide a much more efficient and cost effective solution and decided to outsource its ticket processing and billing functions to BancTec’s BPO Service operation. BA had used BancTec’s transport systems in the past and was impressed by the very successful solution that BancTec had implemented for Saudi Arabian Airlines a year earlier.

At the beginning of the project a backfile conversion of 60 million ticket images was undertaken. In the first year of operation BancTec processed 36 million tickets and has created an archive capable of storing 200 million tickets. 2,000 users worldwide can access the image archive, which increases by 150,000 ticket images daily. On a monthly basis BancTec issues invoices for ticket revenue totaling £70 million.


The Benefits:
2,000 BA staff worldwide can search the archive and retrieve ticket images in less than three seconds. The solution has ample capacity for growth (1 billion transactions over 8 years) without requiring additional investment. Considerable cost savings have been achieved through rationalisation of the billing process and streamlining of the organisation.