Lufthansa selects Dell Services for front-end booking system support

Airline chose Dell because it understood the market and was a 'reliable service provider'

European airline Lufthansa has signed a five-year maintenance and support contract with Dell for the front end of its ticketing and reservations passenger booking system.

More than 10,000 operational staff use the booking system at the airline, and Lufthansa is hoping that the deal will mean that issues are dealt with efficiently, and that cost savings are delivered.

Dell claimed that Lufthansa needed a booking system that was flexible and adaptable; being able to incorporate changes that result from the introduction of new rules and regulations, for example. Each year, there are four to five new software updates that each comprise an average of 60 to 80 modifications made to the system. These changes are then mapped to the front end of the ticketing and reservation tool.

Lufthansa selected Dell as part of a public tender process, with Dell claiming that the airline would be able to "benefit from the cost advantages of offshore support and from short response times by the Dell team". It suggested that Lufthansa's project manager could work directly with Dell's developers to respond to customers' needs.

Voklker Machulski, senior IT development manager direct sales at Lufthansa, said: "We were looking for an external partner who could take over the support and programming tasks so we can focus on our core business.

"We have an elaborate booking system which supports many applications and different functions. We chose Dell because we need a reliable service provider who understands not only the software, but also the travel and transportation business," he explained.