DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A COMPUTERIZED BOOKING SYSTEM FOR AIRLINES

1.1 Introduction

Airline Booking Systems used to be a standalone system. Each airline had its own system, disconnected from other airlines or ticket agents, and usable only by a designated number of airline employees. An Airline Booking System is a computerized system used to store and retrieve information and conduct transactions related to travel. Computer Manifest Information is classified as Passenger Service Systems (PSS) which handles a series of critical functions for the airline. For an Airline, the reservation system is a mission critical system that should use the latest state of the art technology to provide for all flight reservations on a robust platform, which is flexible and can be adapted to any style of airline. Secure and stable systems are vital to the airline industry which is why companies spend many years designing an architecture specifically suited to the nature of the airline industry which often requires tens of thousands of users to access and use the system simultaneously.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

1.2 Background of Study

Online Air Ticketing is a kind of user assistance where customers can book tickets for flight online. This is an easy method that saves a lot of time. Airline Reservation Systems were first introduced in the late 1950s as relatively simple standalone systems to control flight inventory, maintain flight schedules, seat assignments and aircraft loading.

The modern Airline Reservation System is a comprehensive suite of products to provide a system that assists with a variety of airline management tasks and service customer needs from the time of initial reservation through completion of the flight. One of the most common modes of travel is traveling by air. Customers who wish to travel by air nowadays have a wide variety of airlines, and a range of timings to choose from.

Nowadays competition is so fierce between airlines that there are lot of discounts and a lot of luxuries given to customers that will give an edge to that particular airline. The World Wide Web has become tremendously popular over the last four years, and currently, most of the airlines have made provision for online reservation of their flights. The Internet has become a major resource for people looking for making reservations online without the hassle of meeting travel agents (Wikipedia, 2010).

Reservation is the written record or promise of an arrangement by which accommodations are secured in advance (WordWeb 5.1, WordNet Database). In science and technology, the desire for improvement is a constant subject which triggers advancements. This is visible in every ramification and the airline industry is not an exemption. Airline Booking Systems were first introduced in the late 1950s as relatively simple standalone systems to control flight inventory, maintain flight schedules, seat assignments and aircraft loading. Today modern Airline Booking Systems are comprehensive suites of products to provide systems that assist with a variety of airline management tasks and service customer needs from the time of initial reservation through completion of the flight.

Sosoliso Airlines Limited was a scheduled, domestic, passenger airline. For much of its existence it had its head office in Ikeja, Lagos State (Sosoliso Airlines, 2009). It was established in 1994 and started operations in July 2000. The Nigerian government set a deadline of 30 April 2007 for all airlines operating in the country to re-capitalise or be grounded, in an effort to ensure better services and safety. Seven airlines failed to meet the deadline and as a result would not be allowed to fly in Nigeria's airspace with effect from 30 April 2007. These were: ADC Airlines, Fresh Air, Sosoliso Airlines, Albarka Air, Chrome Air Service, Dasab Airlines and Space World Airline. The affected airlines would only fly when they satisfied the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA)’s criteria in terms of re-capitalization and thus be re-registered for operation (Nigeria Direct, 2007).

1.3 Statement of Problem

The existing system is manual, this system is slow, time consuming and it is very difficult for each person to assess the Airline Reservation Information to verify an individual's airline transport ticket through office agents. Users inquire about the tickets through phones and it is very difficult for the user to remember all the details that they received through phones. It is very difficult to calculate how many people registered and how many seats on a particular plane are vacant. Specifically, the existing aero airline reservation system has the following shortcomings associated with it.

1. Customers are not able to make cancellations after making reservation in an event were they are not able to travel again.
2. The aero airline sites do not allow customers to view price chart.

1.4 Aim and Objectives of the Study

The aim of the study is to Design and Implement a Computerized Booking System for Airlines. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows to design and develop an application software that will:

1. Provide an option that will enable a passenger(s) to cancel his/her flight due to whim or impulse;
2. Verify and give accurate passenger airline seat reservation information through the use of an internet accessible device;
3. Minimize cost of maintenance instead of spending more money in purchasing of new equipment, the money can be used in the maintenance of the faulty equipment;
4. Provide an option where passengers can view price chart; and
5. Increase output of passenger manifest with the interconnection more than one computer system over network.

1.5 Significance of Study

From the viewpoint of the Computerized Booking System for Airlines; the system will provide among other things the following;

1. Minimize repetitive work done by the system administrator and reservation clerks.
2. Maintain consistency among different access modes, e.g. by phone, by web, at the information desk and across different physical locations.
3. Maintain customer information in case of emergency, e.g. flight cancellation due to inclement weather.
4. Reduce effort and frustration for travelers in scheduling a trip, especially by reducing the search effort for the flight they need to take.

This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.

1.6 Scope of Study

The study focuses on the Design and Implementation of a Computerized Booking System for Airlines using Sosoliso Airline in Enugu State as a case study.

1.7 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Establishment Policies: Establishment policies posed a serious limitation as most staffs are not ready to release information needed for this project work. There were lots of information needed from the staffs of this institution to enhance the study which took them time to release or they did not release at all for security purposes, hence the scope was reduced.
3. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
4. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
5. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet).

1.8 Definition of Terms

Computer Network: This is the process whereby two or more computers are connected so that they can communicate with each other at the same time. Share resources, file and other peripherals devices like scanner and printer.