Seemingly rival standards bodies, the recently arrived airline-run Open AXIS Group and decade-old OpenTravel signed a memorandum of understanding.
The agreement calls for the two groups to work together to align their XML standards with one another, and each will become a member of the other’s organization.
What it means in practical terms remains to be seen.
Open AXIS Group formed a couple of months ago with the goal of creating XML standards for airlines’ merchandising efforts, and its creation was seen as under-cutting the existing travel industry standards body, OpenTravel.
“Open AXIS has established a proven XML schema as the baseline for its standard and we will work closely with our members and the Open Travel Alliance without duplicating efforts,” says Jim Young, the Open AXIS executive director. “Together, we will adopt, promote, enhance and maintain this schema to create a robust industry standard that addresses the needs of botht he supply and demand sides of the travel supply chain.”
For its part, OpenTravel believes “there is no point is having two disparate and conflicting sets of standard XML structures for the airline industry,” says Valyn Perini, the OpenTravel executive director.
“OpenTravel has a history of working with other industry associations to create implementable, interoperable distribution standards that meet the needs of suppliers, their trading partners and their customers, and we’re happy to build the same type of relationship with Open AXIS Group,” Perini adds.
Perini says the signing of a memorandum of understanding was a “first step,” but acknowledged that how the two groups work together remains to be seen since Open AXIS Group has yet to define its procedures for schema development and maintenance.
Although, as a new member of OpenTravel, Open AXIS would be able to request that OpenTravel develop or change schema, it appears that Open AXIS would become the center of airlines’ efforts to develop their new schema.
Open AXIS claims the airlines need their own airline-focused standards body and that OpenTravel, as a pan-industry group, was too slow in developing such standards.
Open AXIS has licensed XML schema from Farelogix as the foundation for its development efforts.
Other standards bodies that OpenTravel works with include ACRISS, which focuses on car rental standards for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Hotel Technology Next Generation.
“We know how to do this,” Perini says, referring to cooperating with other standards bodies. “We work with a lot of other organizations. It makes perfect sense to do this.”
Both OpenTravel and Open AXIS characterized their agreement as a way to lessen confusion in the travel industry.
Says Scott Stachowial, director of distribution planning at Continental Airlines: “… The important part of this announcement is that it will help clear the air and end the confusion that exists in the marketplace about which standard to support. The strength of these organizations, working together, can only have a positive impact on the industry.”
Some of the best news for the travel industry in recent memory – disaster averted.
Robert: You think the news is that big? Were hotels and others concerned they would have to write to different sets of standards? Wasn’t this going to be mostly an airline-GDS thing anyway?
I think it is big news because it will avoid the challenge of three sets of airline XML standards governing all those lovely ancillary fees that are creating incredible inefficiencies for consumers, travel planners, corporations, etc.
With OpenAXIS and OpenTravel aligned, there appears to be pressure on the GDS group to now come into alignment with the other two for a cohesive specification.
With three groups, the potential for alignment was pretty bleak.
Robert: I wouldn’t be surprised if the three groups become two, with the GDSs possibly backing down on their initiative to build there own standards. We should find out soon.
One clarification here is that we don’t know what the final version of the ‘aligned’ schema will look like. The devil, as usual, is in the details.
Many distributors, airlines and technology providers have implemented OpenTravel schema, and the costs of shifting from one schema structure to another are prohibitive, especially in the current volatile economic climate. It’s unrealistic to expect an airline or distributor to rip out its existing, and effective, communication structure just because another organization sets up shop.
So how is the devil exorcised? OpenTravel and Open Axis will work together to figure out where the common ground is so both organizations can effectively serve the airline industry. This is an excellent first step for aiding in communication between OpenTravel and Open Axis and committing to bi-lateral action.
With the myriad of industry players stretched along different categories, the only way for everyone to benefit- from the small fry to the multinationals, would be to have some sort of global standard.
And everyone has to be conscious to make this fair to everyone.