DHAKA: IT wings of Emirates Group Mercator will now provide its market leading revenue accounting services, RAPID, to the national flag carrier of Bangladesh, Biman Bangladesh Airlines.

The agreement was announced during IATAs 2nd Integrated Settlement Week, the largest annual event for the international revenue accounting community, which was held from 2-6 December in Montreal, Canada.

Patrick Naef, Divisional Senior Vice President Emirates Group IT and Head of Mercator, said, “Mercator is delighted to provide Biman with a revenue accounting technology to realize their long term financial objectives.”

He added: “Our dedicated team has a deep understanding of the challenges facing airline expansion in the industry, and also the experience to create technologies that can provide support as their operations continue to scale in size. We look forward to accompanying Biman on the road to greater success.”

Kevin Steele, Managing Director & CEO of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, said, “This is a positive step forward for Biman. We needed a robust system to support our growth plans for expansion, and our decision to select Mercator as a partner is based on their worldwide reputation as a premier provider of revenue accounting services and their recent launch of the upgraded version of RAPID 3.0.”

“We believe mercator’s IT solutions will give us the tools to realise our revenue objectives, and free our resources to focus on providing our customers with an overall better experience.”

A member of IATA, Biman flies passengers and cargo to 18 international destinations in Asia and Europe from its base in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. Despite external challenges, Bangladeshi tourism continues to flourish with Biman carrying over 1.4 million passengers every year.

To cater to growing demand and market opportunities, Biman has been looking at areas to improve their services and position themselves alongside leading Asian carriers. Such initiatives included significant fleet and network expansion, and major upgrades to their IT systems.

RAPID lays down a firm financial foundation from which airlines can make informed strategic decisions, build their operations and concentrate on the core of their business: getting passengers safely to their destinations.

It also ensures a continual and timely flow of information, providing accurate financial results. The flexibility in the RAPID technology means that it does not only support carriers in their existing daily operations, but also future operations, as an airline seeks to grow its network.

BDST: 1810 HRS, DEC 05, 2013