ARC revealed plans to provide origin and destination data to
Prism Group for Prism's airline customers.
"ARC data will be integrated with Prism's airline
contracting and sales information system," according to a press statement.
"Agency contracts, such as airline override and incentive programs, can
now be managed within the Prism system and integrated with corporate contracts.
The ARC data feed will be subject to both ARC’s and Prism's data protocols to
respect data privacy and confidentiality. Data will be masked and competitor
data will be aggregated."
According to ARC president and CEO Mike Premo, the new
partnership provides airlines "an array of additional contracts with
travel agencies and others who negotiate special programs with airlines."
Airlines also use booking data from global distribution systems as the basis
for agency contracts.
Prism president Michael Whitesage commented that ticketed
data from ARC is more "reliable" and "comprehensive" than marketing
information data tapes information from GDSs. While ARC data is not global, the
International Air Transport Association has been marketing a new data product
called Paxis. IATA operates billing and settlement plans like ARC around the
world.
"Prism's collaboration with ARC marks a new phase in
airline information," according to Whitesage. "ARC data closes the
loop and will allow airlines to manage both corporate and agency contracts in
one system."