MADRID and GAINESVILLE, Fla., Nov. 3,
2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Airline flight network planners have a tough job. They are responsible for creating flight
schedules that consider crews, aircraft, gates, competition, potential disruption and customer demand in a way that maximizes
profitability and is operationally feasible. Building such a schedule is a challenging and time consuming prospect for any
airline network planner.
But when airlines succeed in optimizing their flight schedule relative to their full potential, they can unlock an additional
1 to 3 percent of their current revenues – that amounts to millions of dollars for most airlines. Today, Amadeus and Optym
announce a new long-term partnership to solve that challenge, in a way that was previously believed impossible.
Optym and Amadeus' new suite of network planning solutions is based on sophisticated algorithms that give airlines a fully
optimized schedule based on accurate forecasts in just a few hours, not days or weeks. This is the only technology on the market
that can build a schedule from a "clean sheet". This means that the solution can create a schedule from scratch—without a
previous schedule to work with—thus giving the airline more strategic flexibility and opening new scheduling opportunities that
may have previously gone undiscovered.
Optym, which is based in Gainesville, Florida, was founded by Dr. Ravi Ahuja, a former professor at the University of Florida in the field of
optimization and mathematical modeling.
"This partnership is a great fit – each party brings complementary strengths, combining our world-class mathematics and
proprietary optimization know-how with Amadeus' airline experience, size, global reach and technical sophistication," said Dr.
Ahuja, President and CEO of Optym. "We think airline network planning is ready for some new, innovative thinking and we are
excited about helping airlines unlock more value from their schedule."
Optym works in other industries, including rail and mining, but Amadeus is exclusively investing in the development of their
airline solutions. The partnership has Amadeus contributing its vast knowledge of the airline business and financial support to
develop the solutions that have not yet been brought to market. In addition, Amadeus will use its global network to accelerate
Optym's growth plans and sell the solutions worldwide.
Julia Sattel, Global Head of Airline IT at Amadeus added, "We want our technology to help
airlines succeed in this increasingly competitive market, and that's why we see network planning and scheduling as a very
important area for airlines and their customers. The Optym network planning and scheduling solution is already the best one in
the market, and with our help we think it will become truly game-changing."
This suite of network planning solutions are offered as the Amadeus SKY suite by Optym. This suite includes two solutions
which are already available in the market today: Amadeus SkyMAX by Optym providing schedule optimization, and Amadeus SkySYM by
Optym providing schedule reliability simulation. The next three solutions in the suite will deliver schedule forecasting (Amadeus
SkyCAST by Optym), schedule management (Amadeus SkyWORKS by Optym), and route frequency optimization (Amadeus SkyPLAN by
Optym).
Notes to the editors
About Optym
Founded in 2000, Optym specializes in building decision automation and optimization solutions for the transport
industry. The company develops intelligent solutions for companies to reduce their operational costs, increase their
profitability and improve service quality. With offices in the United States, India, Armenia and Australia, Optym is
truly a global presence in the transportation software industry.
Every company faces their own unique business optimization problems. Many decisions that were once made by humans are now made
by machines, and Optym is taking this mentality to the transportation industry. Their specialized knowledge has already provided
solutions to some of the biggest names in the airline industry including Southwest Airlines. Optym also provides solutions to
numerous other industries, including Walmart, Office Depot and BHP Billiton.
As our world moves further into the digital age and technologies become more advanced, Optym is quickly becoming a worldwide
leader in transport optimization.
To find out more about Optym, visit www.optym.com
About Amadeus
Amadeus provides the technology which keeps the travel sector moving - from initial search to making a booking, from pricing to
ticketing, from managing reservations to managing check-in and departure processes. Our products and solutions help to improve
the business performance of our customers: travel agencies, corporations, airlines, ground handlers, hotels, railways, car rental
companies, airports, cruise lines and ferry operators. At the heart of our approach is innovation. Amadeus was recognized in 2014
and 2015 as the leading European investor in R&D for the travel and tourism sector by the EU Industrial R&D Investment
Scoreboard, which ranks European companies by total investment in R&D. Over €4 billion have been invested in R&D since
2004. It is this strong commitment that we believe will enable us to continue working with our customers and partners to shape
the future of travel. Amadeus works in more than 190 markets with a worldwide team of more than 14,000 people. For the year ended
December 31, 2015, the company reported revenues of €3,913.0 million and EBITDA of €1,465.0
million. Amadeus is listed on the Spanish Stock Exchange under the symbol "AMS.MC" and forms
part of the IBEX 35 Index.
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Media inquiries:
Debbie Iannaci
Director, Corporate Communications
Amadeus North America
305.499.6448
diannaci@amadeus.com
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SOURCE Amadeus