Dubai: Emirates Group's information technology solutions arm Mercator will develop new software for revenue accounting and crew scheduling targeted at small airlines after acquiring Thai company TIK System's assets.

The division provides a revenue accounting system solution, a process called interlining, in which destinations are connected to an airline's network by commercial agreements with ‘feeder' airlines that allow access to lesser-known destinations from hub markets.

While just one ticket is issued, the payment is divided among all related service providers, such as multiple airlines and travel agents.

"If an airline wants to transition out of a local feeder airline and enter into the world of distributing via travel agencies and ticketing and have a commercial relations with airlines that feed transit passengers to and from their aircraft and do code share agreements… that is a massive complexity that a lot of these little guys can't afford or don't know how to do," said Duncan Alexander, Vice-President of Sales and Market Development at Mercator.

The system was developed 15 years ago, and revenue accounting represents 50 per cent of the company's solution services.

"Business processing outsourcing is an area where we see more airlines moving from that low cost model into network distribution, without wanting to handle the headache for all the arrangements," Alexander said.

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