Design And Implementation Of Airline Flight Information System

1.0 INTRODUCTION
It is obvious that everything that is sustainable would have to go
through advancement. In science and technology, the desire for
improvement is a constant subject which triggers advancements. This
is visible in every ramification and the airline industry is not an
exemption.
Airline flight information system (ARS) used to be standalone
systems. Each airline had its own system, disconnected from other
airlines or ticket agents, and usable only by a designated number of
airline employees. Travel agents in the 1970s pushed for access to
the airlines’ systems. Today, air travel information is linked, stored,
and retrieved by a network of Computer Reservations Systems (CRS),
accessible by multiple airlines and travel agents. The global
distribution system (GDS) makes for an even larger web of airline
information, not only merging the buying and selling of tickets for
multiple airlines, but also making the systems accessible to
consumers directly. GDS portals and gateways on the Web allow
consumers to purchase tickets directly, select seats, and even book
hotels and rental cars.(Winston, Clifford 1995).
Aviation jobs are known for hitech. Many of the aviation jobs are
made available by the airline operators and airport authorities.
Aviation jobs are one of the few Nigerian jobs that pay like their
foreign counterparts. With the recent aviation security measures,
aviation recruitments are done very carefully. Airline operators are
now serious in their screening processes than before. This is
because, any kind of misconduct or insecurity may lead to their
license withdrawal. Most graduates are hired through internships
which are normally advertised on this site. These are still very
competitive since many applicants rush for
them whenever available. Graduates also get lucky to be hired
through „Hosts‟ recruitments i.e. when airline operators want to hire
staff that will be serving inside the airplane.

1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY
Air Nigeria (formerly Nigerian Eagle Airlines and Virgin Nigeria
Airways), is the national flag carrier of Nigeria. The airline operates
scheduled regional and domestic passenger services. Its base is
Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos. The airline is a
replacement for defunct Nigeria Airways. Its registered office is in Ikoyi,
Lagos State, while its head office is on the 9th floor of Etiebets Place in
Ikeja, Lagos State.
The carrier’s loyalty programme is named ‘Eagleflier’. On 28
September 2004, the Nigerian government and Virgin Group signed an
agreement to establish a new airline for Nigeria, to be called Virgin
Nigeria Airways. Nigerian institutional investors own 51% of the
company and Virgin Atlantic Airways owns 49%. The airline’s inaugural flight was on 28 June 2005 from Lagos to London Heathrow
using an Airbus A340-300 aircraft. Virgin Nigeria has since gone on to
become one of Nigeria’s largest airlines carrying its 1,000,000th
passenger and 4,000th ton of airline within two years of operation.
The airline has also received accolades including THISDAY Awards
2006 Airline of the year and a nomination for 2006 African Airline of
the year by ASATA (Association of South African Travel Agents).[3]
Virgin Nigeria had plans of making Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in
Abuja its second base where in addition to its Lagos base Murtala
Mohammed International Airport it will serve all countries in West Africa.
The Nigerian government set a deadline of 30 April 2007 for all
airlines operating in the country to re-capitalise or be grounded, in an
effort to ensure better services and safety. The airline satisfied the
Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA)‟s criteria in terms of re-
capitalization and was re-registered for operation
Aviation jobs in Nigeria are definitely scarce. They are seen as high
qualification and technical jobs. Many of the aviation jobs are for
captains, air hosts/hostesses, aviation maintenance engineers,
aviation security guards, traffic and movement controllers etc.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The management of Airline in Nigeria has over the years attracted
poor patronage as a result of errors inherent in the system. It is no
longer a new thing that loss of customers‟ goods is now the order of
the day, the reasons are not far-fetched. Due to this manual
procedure involved in Airline management, clients have no other
option than to be at the mercy of these error prone procedures.
The method of information storage in the company is poor. This
limits the number of official documents accessible by the customers
because the system is not capable of managing old items of
information which could be of use to be customer of anytime.
There is little or no security control system where the customers‟
goods, document and classified information of the customer could be
safe guarded from unauthorized access.

1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
This project is aimed at exposing the relevance and importance of
Airline flight information system (AFIS). It is projected towards
enhancing the relationship between customers and airline agencies
through the use of ARSs, thereby easing the flight ticketing and
selling process and all air traveling operations. .

1.4 LIMITATIONS
The project work is limited to ONLINE AIRLINE RESERVATION
PORTAL FOR TRAVELING SERVICES PROVIDER. In the process of
carrying out this research work, some factors tried to hinder the free
flow of work. These factors include
 Time: Time factors in the sense that the semester was short
and as a result combing this work with studies was tedious.
 Finance: Finances were rather on the lean side and as a
result it affected the carrying out the research in that monetary
commitment was needed for going to the case study,
photocopying document, browsing etc.

1.5 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
The Airline Reservation System (ARS) is a software application
to assist an airline with transactions related to making ticket
reservations, which includes blocking, reserving, cancelling and
rescheduling tickets.
1. Minimize repetitive work done by the system administrator and
reservation clerks.
2. Maintain consistency among different access modes, e.g. by
phone, by web, at the information desk and across different
physical locations. The users should be basically taken through
the same steps by the system as they go through in
conventional desk-reservation systems.
3. Maintain customer information in case of emergency, e.g. flight
cancellation due to inclement weather. The profile can also be
used by the airline company to track user preferences and
travel patterns to serve them better, plan routes, for better
marketing and efficient scheduling of flights.
4. Maximize the revenue of the airline company by various means:
5. Increase awareness among frequent travelers about various
special offers and discounts.
6. Minimize the number of vacant seats on a flight and maximize
flight capacity utilization.
7. Maintain the capability to adopt a flexible pricing policy. The
price of the tickets should be dynamically determined based on
how early, before the date of departure, the customer buys the
ticket.

1.6 SIGNIFICANT OF STUDY
The significant of Airline management system is the computerization
of the activities of the organization. It helps to facilitate the dairy
operation of the organization. The economy of the organization is
affected positively because of the computerization of their operation.
The findings of this research will also help the management to
increase the income generation and smooth running of the everyday
activities.
This presentation will be beneficial to all those who make use of
Airline flight information system (ARSs), flight operators, air traveling
operators, travel agents and airline agencies.
In addition, it will assist all those in computer-related disciplines who
may want to appreciate the system and also those doing research on
similar topic.

1.7 SCOPE OF DELIMITATIONS
This study is restricted to the full operations of Air Nigeria Company
with respect to ONLINE AIRLINE RESERVATION PORTAL FOR
TRAVELING SERVICES PROVIDER.

1.8 ASSUMPTIONS
It is assumed that the new system will do the following:
a. the new system will create room for the client to know all the
necessary facts about their operation.
b. The new system will create an avenue where by the
measurement and Gross weight of the airline will be known and
the commensurate fees to be paid.
C. The new system will also make all the on-line operations
carried out in airline management in Air Nigeria an easy task for
official and staff of the establishment.

1.9 DEFINITION OF TERMS
1. Administration: is an aspect of running the organization by
devising systems which will run smoothly.
2. Client: This any process that request specific services from
server processes.
3. Computer: This is an electrons machine that can accept;
handle and manipulate data by performing arithmetic
and logic operations without human intervention
usually under the control of programmes.
4. Data: This is for runner of information. It is unprocessed fact.
5. Database is a collection of information that is related to a
particular subject or purpose.
6. Hardware: This is the electromechanical part of computer
system.
7. Information: This is data that have been processed,
interpreted and understood by the recipient of the message or
report.
8. Internet is a collection of computer networks that operate to
common standards and enable the computes and the program
they run to communicate directly.
9. Server: This is a process that provides requested services for
clients.