ISM Travel & Events 2017 June 12-14, 2017 Miami, FL
Airline Data What s the Story, Why Is This Useful, and Who Needs to Know? Michael Premo President & CEO Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC)
Travel Data Tells stories people and businesses are interested in ARC-sourced stories reached over 1 billion potential readers online in the first quarter of 2017 alone [ARC] data is as good as it gets. - Gillespie s Guide to Travel+Procurement January 26, 2017
Who is ARC? Shareholders
Why Does ARC Get Data? ARC is contracted by 222 airlines to accredit their sales agents in the U.S. ARC vets applicants ARC obtains financial guarantees Upon approval: Old: Send boxes of paper tickets, collect sales reports, send cash to airlines New: Allocate e-tickets, e-report sales collection, bill credit cards or send cash
Why Does ARC Get Data? ARC s data comes from reported ticket sales from U.S. travel agencies Over 12,000 locations, including: Online agencies Travel management companies (TMCs) Regionals and small independents About 125 corporations that are ARC-accredited as travel buyers
Who Can Get ARC Data? ARC s data release policies are set by ARC s airline board Generally: Anyone who is a party to the transaction has access to granular data Airline, agency, credit card, corporation, passenger Third parties can obtain data with some level of aggregation (no detail, no personally identifying information)
Who Gets ARC Data Today? ARC publishes high-level statistics on air sales via U.S. agencies on its website each month. ARC also offers products and custom reports used by: Airlines Agencies Corporations and their consultants Airports Aircraft manufacturers Government Hotels Financial/investment firms Tourism and destination organizations
What Can ARC Data Tell You? A lot! Travel managers and procurement professionals: Benchmarks Accurate Best possible coverage of your routes and destinations Travel Behavior Do you buy earlier or later than the market (consumer or business travel)? Do you have more refunds or exchanges than the market?
What Data Does ARC Have? The first level of ARC data comes from the data necessary to support the sale and reconciliation of the ticket.
The Old Paper Ticket
What Data Does ARC Have? The second level of ARC data integrates information from other sources: Scheduled arrival times Full flight schedules Aircraft types and capacities Cabin-class mapping custom and industry-standard Alliance relationships Agency type indicators (corporate / online / other)
What Data Does ARC NOT Have? Sometimes difficult to identify specific corporate identity Southwest Airlines No reason codes (often added by TMCs or travelers) No contact data No email addresses No phone numbers No corporation-specific details No department / project codes
Just a Few Interesting Stories Purchase Date vs. Travel Date How many days in advance do we buy our tickets? How does that compare to the market? Overall Corporate travel generally Our industry Refunds and Exchanges How does our churn compare to all the above? Could we possibly be buying too far ahead?
Why is ARC Data Best? Three big challenges in benchmarking: coverage, coverage, coverage! ARC: U.S. point-of-sale on over 200,000 unique origin and destinations (O&Ds) every month Statistically, you need at least 53 trips in an O&D for highly reliable benchmarking analysis ARC: 50,000 O&Ds that meet that criteria Covers 95.5% of tickets sold
But Wait! There s More! ARC partners with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which processes agencies sales outside the U.S. ARC s data warehouse is the global data repository for this partnership. Also participating are 30 airlines that contribute their website ticket data (not sold via agencies)
ARC Data: The Single Record of Truth 2.2 Billion PASSENGER FLIGHTS 230 COUNTRIES & TERRITORIES 360 AIRLINES 9,400 AGENCIES 3,300 AIRPORTS
Key Airline Ticket Data Attributes A leading economic indicator Booked on average 25 days ahead of travel Indicative of the health of both the global and local economies Passenger counts growing or shrinking? Business-class travel up or down? Average ticket prices up or down? Historic trends and comparisons
Does Aviation Make a Difference? Dubai says, Yes. The overall total economic impact of the aviation sector on the Dubai economy in 2013 can be put at US$26.7 billion, comprising a core impact of US$16.5 billion and tourism benefits of US$10.2 billion. This is equivalent to 26.7% of Dubai s total GDP, and was sufficient to support some 416,500 jobs, or 21% of Dubai s total employment. - from Oxford Economics 2014 Report to Emirates and Dubai Airports
Summary Airline ticket data tells stories: - About your purchases - About the air marketplace - About your travelers - About economic impacts locally, regionally and globally
Thank You