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Are you prepared for EMD compliance?
Dan Greaves
Senior Manager, Marketing Travel Payments, Amadeus IT Group
IATA is currently striving for a global Electronic Miscellaneous Document (EMD) standard for ancillary revenues. The reason is clear, airline ancillary services are set to hit an all-time high becoming a crucial component in the airline industry’s profit toolbox.
With full industry buy-in EMD will provide a global industry standard for the issuance, fulfillment and collection of ancillary services across all channels, from travel agents to airline agents at the airport, reducing cost by eliminating paper documents and better back office productivity.
Amadeus was the first to deliver EMD to travel agents and get full certification from the IATA and continues to be the trailblazer in the market. IATA has made EMD a main priority and expects full compliance by all airlines by the end of 2013.
EMD Integration
The integration of EMD into Amadeus’ Airline Departure and Control System, Altéa DCS, offers the ability for the airline check-in staff to issue an EMD directly at the counter and see a breakdown of services for any given passenger. This also means passengers can buy optional services through self-service terminals, saving them a journey to the airline ticket counter.
According to IATA, 48 airlines had begun issuing EMDs by the end of 2011. 23 of those airlines use the Amadeus’ EMD Server and between them issued over 4 million EMDs last year.
By the end of 2012, EMD capable airlines should represent 75% of passenger volume and IATA has requested that all airlines are 100% compliant with EMD by the end of 2013.
Amadeus is one step ahead of the competition in the EMD implementation.
For more information on EMD, have a look at our report The ABCs of EMDs.