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Without exaggeration one can say that a reservations system lies at the heart of the information systems of an airline, because it is here that all the information flows come together, and the commercial prosperity of an airline is directly dependent upon its efficient working. It is not surprising that all airlines dedicate maximal attention to choosing these systems, and their producers rightly consider successful solutions in this area to be their primary achievement.
The majority of reservations systems which have survived up until now were developed in the 70’s using mainframe technology, which was then the leading edge in programming and equipment solutions. Among their advantages were well-developed functionality and high reliability, while among the disadvantages were high costs, an outdated user interface, and difficulty in modifying them to correspond to new market conditions. “Sirena-2.3” is classified as a system of the new generation, built on an open platform (UNIX, C++, SQL, GUI, etc). Open platforms increased the work productivity of programmers by dozens of times in comparison to the era of mainframes, and the fantastic progress of equipment has lowered the threshold for the cost of equipment from millions of dollars to tens of thousands of dollars. Such a revolution in the area of information technology made it possible for relatively small companies to produce products, with standards of functionality and reliability which only a few decades ago could have only been attained by giants such as IBM and Unisys. This lead to a global lowering of prices of reservations systems and made it possible for every airline to own one.
The “Sirena-2.3” system for reserving seats and selling airline tickets has functioned on the Russian market of airline transport sales since 1997. It arrived to replace “Sirena-2” and offered its users — airlines and agencies — a principally new set of possibilities and services.
Today “Sirena-2.3” is a leader among reservations systems in the Russian aviation market. In 2003, 9 million passengers of 70 airlines were serviced by it, which consisted of more than half of the transport of passengers performed on domestic scheduled flights of carriers in Russia and the countries of the C.I.S.
In Russia and the countries of the C.I.S. (Ukraine, Byelorussia, Kyrgyzia, Uzbekistan), there are 24 air reservation centers (ARC), which use the software of “Sirena-2.3”. Each ARC has its own terminal network. The overall number of terminals connected to “Sirena-2.3” is over 6000.
“Sirena-2.3” fully corresponds to the requirements presented to contemporary reservations systems, and by virtue of its functionality and capacity characteristics it is able to compete with analogous products not only domestically, but on the international aviation market.
In the table below are shown the carriers on whose flights the most seats were booked in 2003.
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