DREIEICH - FlySafair, the South African low-cost carrier, entered into an agreement with Hahn Air to distribute its flights via travel agents worldwide. The airline’s inventory will be available for ticketing on the Hahn Air HR-169 document in all major Global Distribution Systems (GDSs) worldwide. Hahn Air is a German scheduled airline and the leading provider of distribution services for other airlines.
With the agreement, FlySafair joins Hahn Air’s network of more than 300 air, rail and shuttle partners and expands its commercial reach to 100,000 travel agencies in 190 markets worldwide. The airline is the 9th partner to benefit from two products of the Hahn Air Group to optimise its distribution strategy.
The Dual Partnership combines both the H1-Air product and an HR-169 interline agreement. With HR-169, FlySafair will be available in the GDSs Amadeus and Galileo under their own designator FA since March, 2017 and can be issued by travel agents on the HR-169 ticket. With H1-Air, FlySafair is already available in all major GDSs worldwide under the reservation code H1 and can also be ticketed on HR-169 ticket stock. Through the Dual Partnership, FlySafair benefits from a full suite of services including scheduling, fare filing, messaging, inventory management, reservations, settlements, money repatriation and HR-169 ticketing.
“By combining the two Hahn Air products, FlySafair is fully optimising their distribution strategy”, says Steve Knackstedt, Vice President of the Airline Business Group at Hahn Air. “Through our H1-Air product, FlySafair successfully outsources its complete indirect distribution while eliminating risk and saving costs. H1-Air also allows FlySafair to enter the GDS world immediately and cover all major GDSs with minimal effort. By complementing the H1-product with a HR-169 interline agreement, our partner can choose to sell flights under its own two letter code in key markets via selected GDSs.”
FlySafair is a low-cost airline based at Oliver Reginald Tambo International Airport (JNB) in Johannesburg, South Africa. The airline is part of 51-year old specialised aviation services company, Safair Operations, and serves 7 domestic destinations with a fleet of nine Boeing 737 aircraft. FlySafair’s GDS inventory includes a 23kg checked-in baggage allowance, free priority boarding and two flight changes without penalty fees, although fare differences will be applicable. Ticketing time limits vary by fare class from a few hours to 48 hours.
“We are very excited to welcome FlySafair into our customer portfolio, broadening our footprint in South Africa and enhancing our H1-Air network with our 15th African partner carrier”, says Alexander Proschka, Head of Hahn Air Systems.
“It was our intention to find a smart and cost efficient solution to make all FlySafair routes available in the GDSs”, says Kirby Gordon, Head of Sales and Distribution at FlySafair.
“We completed the first phase of our GDS roll-out with the implementation of H1-Air in November. Phase two consists of an interline agreement with Hahn Air and direct integrations with Amadeus and Galileo. This will give us the opportunity to offer a slightly more competitive fare in our local markets.”
