The world of reference data - www.oag.com/datahungry - connecting the world of travel

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The world of reference data - www.oag.com/datahungry - connecting the world of travel
connecting the
world of travel

               The world of
              reference data

                  www.oag.com/datahungry
The world of reference data - www.oag.com/datahungry - connecting the world of travel
The world is data hungry
Schedules and reference data                                      For schedules data this means it is increasingly
constantly changes                                                vital that reference data is accurate, up to
                                                                  date and synchronised. 7 schedule changes
• Over 50 billion smart connected devices in                      a second and over 3.5 million changes
  the world within the next 5 years;1                             updates a month!
• The digital universe is estimated to grow to
  44 zettabytes (about 44 billion terrabytes) by                  Why reference data matters
  2020;2
                                                                  The traveller expects accurate, up to date,
• Less than 0.5% of all currently available data                  synchronised schedules data. Reference data
  is analysed and used.3                                          underpins that accuracy, helps enrich your data
                                                                  and it changes more than you think. Read on to
Sources: 1 Cisco, 2 EMC Digital Universe with Research &
Analysis by IDC, 3 MIT Technology Review                          understand these vital data sets and how they
                                                                  impact your schedules data.

What are MCTs?
MCTs are Minimum                200,000
Connection Times
                                180,000
and represent the time
allowed between the             160,000
arrival of one scheduled        140,000
flight and the departure
of a connecting flight.         120,000

                                100,000
As of July 2016, we
currently have 12,188            80,000
Airport Standard MCTs
                                 60,000
on file covering 3,180                    No. of MCT exceptions
                                          No. of MCT changes processed
active airports - as             40,000
well as 107,000 MCT
                                 20,000
exceptions! This number
can fluctuate wildly...              0
                                          Jun-12 Oct-12 Feb-13 Jun-13 Oct-13 Feb-14 Jun-14 Oct-14 Feb-15 Jun-15 Oct-15 Feb-16

Determining industry-standard MCTs
All new industry-standard MCTs              Step 1                       Step 2                 Step 3
must be approved by IATA.
Once the new industry-standard                The airport operators            Once agreed,            IATA will then
MCT is established, this                       committee (AOC),                   the new                inform the
becomes the default value for               consisting of all airlines          MCT value               industry for
that airport and is used by the              operating in and out of           is submitted            the new MCT
entire industry.                            that airport, must agree            to IATA for             value at that
                                              to a new MCT value                 approval                  airport

                              www.oag.com/datahungry
General status exceptions
If no other MCTs are set at an individual airport, IATA specifies default MCT times for all airports:

   Domestic to                  Domestic to              International to              International to
    domestic                    international               domestic                     international
       20 minutes                     One hour                  One hour                      One hour
   Passenger arrives            Passenger arrives          Passenger                    Passenger arrives
   on a domestic                on a domestic              arrives on an                on an international
   flight and departs           flight and                 international flight         flight and departs
   on another                   departs on an              and departs on a             on another
   domestic flight              international flight       domestic flight              international flight

Airport MCT exceptions                                        Airline MCT exceptions
There are exceptions to these defaults, which                 A powerful marketing tool that influences
could be for the following reasons:                           positioning on GDS displays, OTAs and
                                                              metasearch engines.
                                    Collect
                                 any checked
  Clear
                                 baggage from
 Customs
                                   Baggage                          A proactive
                                    Claim                       influence against
                 Clear
                                                                   competitors
              Immigrations
                                          Check-                              The shorter the
                                         in for the                          connection time,
    Move                                2nd flight (if                     the faster the journey,
  between            Walk from           required)                           which moves the
  terminals         arrival gate                                                carrier up the
                   of 1st flight to                                                 page
                   departure gate
                                                                                            Airline MCT
                    of 2nd flight
                                                                                        Co- ordinators agree
                                                                                         exceptions to the
Airports may choose to set its own Industry                                              Airport standard
Standard MCT, which will override the Status                                                    MCT
Exception default time.

MCT Industry Format
The distribution format is determined by IATA and is described in SSIM. OAG was instrumental in
the evolvement of the current format and subsequent hierarchy and is now working with airlines and
industry partners to develop new IATA distribution standards for Minimum Connect Times.

      airport                effective from /                                     aircraft code, or wide /
                                                            carrier
     terminals                   to dates                                         narrow body indicator

     flight numbers /                 previous / next             state and                 country or
        flight ranges                     airport                  country                    region

                          www.oag.com/datahungry
What is an ‘exception                                 The Domestic to International (DI) status standard at
to an exception’?                                     MIA is 1 hour.
                                                      AA has an exception: AA to ALL carriers at
To display a specific exception by a carrier,         MIA 55 minutes.
sometimes it is necessary to add an MCT               AA advises that BA is an exception to this, and that
exception at the status standard time. In             the status standard at MIA should apply. This will be
this case the time will be displayed as 9999.         displayed:
The following is an example of this situation >       The following identifies the 55 minute exception for all carriers.
                                                      AA – to All Dom to Int’l exception at MIA 55 minutes.
                                                      The following identifies the BA exception to this exception.
                                                      AA – to BA Dom to Int’l status standard at MIA 9999.
MCT Industry Format
The distribution format is determine by
IATA and is described in SSIM.
OAG is instrumental in managing the
current format and subsequent hierarchy.
The file is designed to be used in
conjunction with other IATA Standard
coding files, such as:
• Equipment Codes
• Location and Region Codes
• Carrier Codes
• DST/Time Zones

   Airline codes
   IATA administers the two-letter airline codes and once it is assigned,
   OAG advises IATA of ports and equipment codes used by the carrier in
   its submitted schedule. OAG also adds an ICAO code where applicable as
   well as maintaining ICAO codes for airlines that do not have an IATA code to
   enable their schedules to be distributed.
   IATA will also advise when codes are recalled for reasons such as an airline
   ceasing operations.
   As of July 2016, there are 906 carriers maintained for schedules distribution –
   with 768 publishing schedules under their own code.

                        Airline seats and equipment
                        OAG maintains equipment data for all           Aircraft data is maintained at 3 levels:
                        scheduled services. Data is sourced from       • Configuration at equipment and
                        aircraft manufacturers and includes:               service type
                        • ICAO code                                    • Configuration for an airline’s fleet
                        • Body Type                                    • Configuration as supplied by
                        • Aircraft category e.g. jet engine                carriers in their schedule data i.e.
                        • Maximum speed and range and                      at flight & route level
                            maximum take-off weight

                          www.oag.com/datahungry
Locations data
   IATA administers the three-letter codes and advises any changes. Typically
   this is when an airline starts operating to a new location. These coordinates
   need to be validated (or added when not supplied), names verified and
   ICAO codes assigned.
   The locations are sent to a country with associated time zone and DST information.
   The location may also be attached to a city as part of a metropolitan area
   e.g. NRT and HND assigned to TYO (Tokyo).
   There are currently over 11,000 IATA codes – 7,249 have also been assigned ICAO codes.
   There are a mere (!) 4,200 locations that are considered active i.e. we have schedules
   data for them.

The Connections Chain
This is only a piece of the puzzle (for specific connections analysis), however it illustrates how often
reference data is needed and how many factors it can influence – only one of these needs to be out of
sync, and you won’t see what you expect to!

                                                                          restriction                      custom
                 dest                     conx type?
    orig                                                                    rules?                          MCTs
                             gateways?                      circuity?                    MaxCT?

                                                                      IATA, LCC?            eh,
              really easy,
                              could be      online,                      how             are you        ok, I’ve had
  easy, I       I know
                              loads of     interline,                  does that         kidding?         enough
  know         where I’m
                               them –       others?      what’s that? influence            we’re           now...
where I am       going
                             where do I                                   it?           getting out
                                start?                                                  of control
                                                                                           here

 So, add up all that reference data....                                                                      800,000
                                                                                                          flight status
                                                                                                             updates
                                                                                                           processed
 We know aviation data is huge and there                                                22.8 million           daily
                                                          99.6%
 are a multitude of reference points that               schedules                       flight status
 need to be correct, and synchronised.                   updated                        messages a
                                                         monthly                            month
 There are multiple data points that influence
 our world.
 Staying current, or real-time is vital to
                                                                         3.6 billion
 ensuring visibility.                                                   passengers
 We need the right reference information                                  in 2016              Over 3.5 million
 synchronised across all platforms.                                                           schedules updates
                                                                                                  a month
 And, if we have that,
                                                    9,863 million
 we can focus our time             6,850            passengers
 and energy on what             passengers a           a day
                                   minute
 is important.

                             www.oag.com/datahungry
dynamic
                                      SSIM              WDF      alerts      routemapper
                    schedules

                               www.oag.com/schedules

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