Despite Economy, IT Projects Take Off at America West.

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Author: Verton, Dan

While the bulk of the industry remains in an economic tailspin that threatens to kill most new ITprojects, the nation's eighth-largest airline is an exception.

America West Airlines Inc. in Phoenix recently completed the first phase of a long-term effort to help online customers find the lowest fares possible, improve customer service for frequent fliers and increase revenue along the way. "Online is our lowest-cost distribution channel, and we want to shift as much of our volume there as possible," said Lloyd Parker, vice president of distribution at America West.

To accomplish that goal, America West outsourced its domestic and international online pricing and flight planning search engine to ITASoftware Inc. in Cambridge, Mass.

From its data center in Boston, ITA processes all of the airline's online shopping requests for flight availability, pricing and seat availability.

America West is also taking steps to address the hassles that come with the post-Sept. 11 flying experience with the help of customer relationship management (CRM) software from Menlo Park, Calif.-based Kana Software Inc. The software, Kana Response, is a widely used e-mail management system.

"E-mail accounts for the vast majority of the responses we see from customers," said Parker. "But now the customer can send us e-mail on just about anything, and we're able to customize the message based on the specific department that handles that issue."

The airline declined to discuss spending or savings figures associated with its investments.

Chris Schutte, a travel industry analyst at PhoCusWright, said the significance of these two projects isn't in the selection of software, but in the timing of the rollouts. "Most airlines are already using advanced CRM tools," he said. "But its mostly the large airlines that are in trouble now. For the smaller airlines like America West, it's a good time to expand better service offerings and squeeze out any inefficiency they might have in their distribution system."

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By Dan Verton