Air France plans to begin using a corporate sales tracking system backed by the Prism Group, the companies confirmed this week, following the lead of several of its SkyTeam alliance partners. American Airlines in the United States and SAS in Europe this summer each announced similar programs
(BTN, Aug. 15).
Air France said it would introduce CorpNet, a Prism-powered corporate sales data and decision-support system used to establish and monitor marketshare-based corporate contracts. It already is in use at both KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Northwest Airlines, two Air France partners.
Air France said the system would become "an integral part" of One Corporate Travel Solution, the joint corporate sales platform used by the combined Air France-KLM sales organization. One Corporate Travel Solution launched in spring 2004 following the official close of the cross-border merger of the two airlines
(BTN, June 7, 2004). At that time, Air France already had begun to consider the merits of the Prism system, which KLM started testing in late 2002
(BTN, Nov. 11, 2002). Longtime KLM ally Northwest began using Prism data processing earlier that year when it shifted to marketshare-based corporate deals
(BTN, June 24, 2002).
SkyTeam alliance members Continental and Delta also use corporate sales data tools supplied by Albuquerque, N.M.-based Prism.