Geneva - The International Air Transport Association (IATA) today announced that the Accounting Centre of Chinese Aviation (ACCA) will expand its data processing activities to serve IATA’s Billing and Settlements Plan (BSP) in 45 locations.
ACCA currently handles data processing for IATA in the People’s Republic of China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong SAR and Macao SAR. With today’s announcement ACCA will take over data processing activities for an additional 41 IATA Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP) operations by the end of 2009. All locations will be served by ACCA’s headquarter in Beijing, China.
IATA BSPs are a vital part of the airline distribution system. They operate in 160 countries worldwide and last year processed 400 million tickets with a value of $220 billion. BSP China, opened in 1995, has experienced spectacular growth since its launch reflecting the remarkable economic transformation and growth of China and its aviation industry. In the last 13 years, Chinese BSP ticket volumes skyrocketed from 600 to 113 million tickets, with a value of CNY115.5 billion (US$ 16.5 billion). Some 80 airlines and 4190 agents participate in BSP China, which is now IATA’s biggest BSP operation.
“Efficiency and quality are essential elements of our BSP operations. Consolidating our data processing activities with a single provider makes solid business sense and ACCA was natural choice. Our partnership with ACCA started in 1995 when we began BSP operations in China,” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO. “Today we are taking that partnership to a new level by making ACCA the focal point for our data processing requirements in 45 select locations from Iceland to New Zealand.”
The project to transfer data operations is underway with completion expected by the end of 2009.
Editors Notes:
- IATA has some 240 members comprising 94% of scheduled international traffic.
- The IATA Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP) is a system by which IATA, as an independent third party, manages the transfer of money derived from cash sales of airline tickets between travel agents and airlines.
- ACCA will take over BSP operations currently handled by Unisys for the following:
- Australia
- Bangladesh
- Bermuda
- Bulgaria
- Canada, Saint Pierre and Miquelon
- Cyprus
- Finland
- New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna Islands (French Overseas territories BSP)
- French Polynesia (French Overseas Territories BSP)
- Greece
- Indonesia (domestic and international)
- Ireland
- Israel
- Kazakhstan
- Malaysia
- Malta
- Guam, Commonwealth of Northern Marianas , Republic of Palau (Micronesia BSP)
- Federated States of Micronesia and Republic of Marshall Islands (Micronesia BSP)
- Moldova (Romania BSP)
- Nepal
- New Zealand
- Fiji and Cook Islands (New Zealand BSP)
- Western Samoa (New Zealand BSP)
- Tonga (New Zealand BSP)
- Denmark (Nordic & Baltic BSP)
- Estonia (Nordic & Baltic BSP)
- Iceland (Nordic & Baltic BSP)
- Latvia (Nordic & Baltic BSP)
- Lithuania (Nordic & Baltic BSP)
- Norway (Nordic & Baltic BSP)
- Sweden (Nordic & Baltic BSP)
- Pakistan
- Papua New Guinea
- Philippines
- Poland
- Romania
- Singapore
- Sri Lanka
- Thailand
- Cambodia (Thailand BSP)
- Ukraine
- Vietnam