Amadeus has developed an Electronic Miscellaneous Document (EMD) link for use by airlines to facilitate payment for and delivery of ancillary services across their partnerships and alliances. Launch partners for the new application are Finnair and Egyptair. The carriers’ customers can now buy ancillary services across interline flights, and be certain that the operating airline will know the service has been purchased. Previously, the only way the operating airline would know a customer had purchased an ancillary service, such as extra baggage allowance, was through a paper document provided by the traveler at the airport.
In all, 56 airlines have contracted Amadeus’ EMD Server in order to facilitate the sale of ancillary services. To date, 22 carriers have implemented the Server; more than four million EMDs were processed in 2011. According to IATA, 47 carriers are currently EMD compliant.
“Our customers will absolutely notice the difference - the improved efficiency and more convenient service are principal and tangible benefits, whilst the EMD will also save on time,” says Yasser EL Ramly, vice president, commercial service at EgyptAir. “It is clear also that we are far ahead of the IATA target date of 2013 for full application of EMD across the industry."
Amadeus estimates that up to 20 percent of air bookings made through its system are the result of interline partnerships, representing a huge opportunity for airlines to increase revenues through the sale of ancillary services via their partner carriers. In addition, EMDs remove the need for paper documents to account for the sale of ancillary services, which IATA believes will save the industry $0.9 billion annually.