Air Canada, American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and US Airways, plus the Airline Tariff Publishing Company, announced the formation of their Open Airline XML Integration Standard group to "promote a standardized XML (eXtensible Markup Language) schema as the optimal electronic messaging structure for airline system connectivity used in content distribution." The group named as executive director Jim Young, a travel distribution veteran who helped found the industry's existing XML standards body, now called OpenTravel.
After
The Beat last week reported that some airline distribution execs were talking about creating a new standards body,
Tnooz on Monday posted a similar item by Dennis Schaal. Today, he
published quite a few more details including the apparent name of the group, OpenAxis; its plans to use Farelogix XML schema to focus on merchandising; pricing for participation; and its employment of Open Travel Alliance founder and former airline and hotel distribution exec Jim Young as "agent" and potential executive director. After the story in
The Beat, we received feedback from folks concerned that such a body would fragment the standards business, including International Air Transport Association manager for ticketing and reservations standards Mike Irons.
As we discussed earlier, all of the relevant parties to the last major public flare-up between an OTA and a major brand (
Expedia and IHG) have moved on to new challenges.
However, we’ve tracked the two key witnesses down, and they both have agreed to discuss the current situation between Choice and Expedia.
First, we are talked with former IHG SVP Jim Young.
We’ll follow shortly with a discussion with Spencer Rascoff, former VP of Supplier Relations at Expedia, and now COO at
Zillow.com
