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Why Does United Own Its Reservation System?

Scott Kirby says United owns its reservation system because the airline locked into a legacy mainframe it already owned, and the later owners did not want to keep supporting it. United is the only airline in the world that owns its own reservation system. Everyone else outsources reservations to Sabre and Apollo.

United has more of its technology in-house, Kirby thinks, than any airline in the world. Copa Airlines in Panama uses the same reservation system because Copa is a partner, so only two airlines in the world run it. EDS owned the system and then someone else took it. They did not want to keep supporting it, so United had to support the mainframe on its own. United lucked into the system, and owning it has been huge.

United is now taking over all kinds of other parts of the tech stack.

Grokipedia·United!·Scott Kirby

Transcript

The airline CEO putting Starlink on every plane ·

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  1. Why Did United Buy Planes During COVID?Scott Kirby says United bought planes during COVID because the experts were wrong and every other long-haul airline was shrinking.
  2. When Will United Show Weather Delay Odds?Scott Kirby wants United to show a weather-impact percentage on the passenger screen by Christmas, in time for the weather trouble that comes with Christmas…
  3. Why Is Air Traffic Control the Bottleneck for Airlines?Scott Kirby says air traffic control, not airport capacity, is what limits the airline. He puts air traffic control at 90% of the problem.
  4. Why Does United Say Fast Wi-Fi Beats Free Wi-Fi?Scott Kirby says fast internet is the real value of Starlink on United Airlines, and free is not the value proposition.
  5. Why Does Wall Street Hate United Aircraft Bets?Scott Kirby says Wall Street almost always hates the big things United does, and aircraft investment is one of them.
  6. Why Won't Boeing and Airbus Build New Planes?Scott Kirby says Boeing and Airbus will not replace the 757 because the two manufacturers hold a global duopoly and have quietly agreed, though not in any…
  7. Why Do Low-cost Airlines Keep Failing?Scott Kirby says low-cost airlines in the United States keep failing because they left the cheap airports that made the model work and then could not charge…
  8. Why Does United Limit Where It Flies?Scott Kirby keeps United Airlines disciplined by limiting where it flies. United only flies to its hubs.
  9. Why Should an Airline Cancel Routes That Lose Money?Scott Kirby says an airline should cancel any route that loses money, including a route people defend as strategic. The route network is the foundation.
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