THE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A SOFTWARE BASED LUGGAGE BILLING SYSTEM FOR AN AIR LINE

CHAPTER ONE

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 recapitalization 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.