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Kale provides tech backbone for IATA

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CIOL Bureau
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MUMBAI, INDIA: Kale Consultants, a provider of solutions to the airline, logistics and travel industry today announced that the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has chosen Kale as the prime technology supplier for the development of its industry-wide interline settlement platform Simplified Interline Settlement (SIS) initiative.

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The Simplified Interline Settlement (SIS) project aims to standardize, facilitate and expedite interline billing and settlement in the airline industry, said a press release.

This initiative consolidates IATA's vision to streamline the interline settlement process and encapsulates other significant initiatives such as First & Final, electronic ticketing and weekly settlement.

Tom Murphy, senior vice president, industry distribution and financial services, IATA, said, “Modernizing the interline settlement platform is an important step in our mission to simplify industry processes. The $500 million annual savings that SIS would generate is critical for the industry.”

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He added that as their technology partner and outsourced solution provider, they would be counting on Kale to deliver high quality solutions on time and on budget. At its steady state, 3 years from today, SIS would handle over 1 million invoices per year, be used by over 300 airlines, support over 3,000 users around the globe and facilitate settlement of approximately $50 billion per year for the industry.

Vipul Jain, CEO and managing director, Kale Consultants Ltd., said “The SIS project adds to our existing partnership with IATA on the First & Final billing initiative and reinforces Kale’s position as a premier solutions provider to the airline industry.”

He added that initiative is also in line with their constant endeavor to provide the industry with innovative solutions, in face of the current economic conditions.

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The SIS initiative envisages significant benefits/cost savings for airlines; from reduction in paper, postage, and courier fees to reduction in manpower cost associated with invoice registration, document preparation, document sorting and transaction level reconciliation.

This initiative would also drive faster revenue recognition and better financial information for airlines. It is estimated that over 300 airlines will be using this system after it goes live in 2010, the release added.