[gallery td_select_gallery_slide="slide" ids="17670,17669,17668"] Saudi Gazette report JEDDAH — Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) has on Monday signed an agreement with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to obtain all data on its DDS concerning ticket prices and marketing proceeds of all airlines in the world. The agreement was signed by Saudia Director General Saleh Bin Nasser Al-Jasser and IATA's President and CEO Tony Tyler during the fringes of the 48th general assembly of the Arab Air Transport Association (AATA) which is currently being held in Jeddah. Al-Jasser expressed happiness over the signing of the agreement and said it would be effective from Dec. 1, 2015. He said the DDS program is aimed at helping officials of the airline companies to make strategic decisions concerning ideal planning of flights and the perfect management of the proceeds. "The program will also assist in developing products through easy access to the international databases on direct and indirect sales, the ticket prices and the returns collected from various sources after accurate analysis and daily updating," he said. Al-Jasser said the final data of the DDS program would be provided electronically to all airline companies in the world. The agreement consisted of a number of articles including the provision of data on the fares of the domestic and international tickets of all airway companies and the transit flights to the Kingdom. Under the program, the air companies will be supplied with comprehensive daily reports about the performances and the market shares of every airway company in the world. Al-Jasser said Saudia would benefit from this program in a number of its sectors including sales, flight schedules and management of returns. Tyler, on his part, expressed happiness over the signing of the agreement, which he said was the third of its kind since 2012. "We have earlier signed two agreements for training purposes. We are now celebrating a new area of cooperation," he said. Since 2002, Saudia has been using the products of the International Cyber Company, which only provides data on reservations. The DDS program provides timely and accurate data to all airway companies in the world. IATA CEO participates in Saudi folkloric dance The Arab Air Carrier Organization (AACO) invited CEOs of Arab air transport companies and the IATA CEO Tyler to the organization's meeting. During the ceremony held in Laylati Ceremony Hall on Sunday, Tyler expressed he was impressed with the Saudi "Ardhah" dance. He participated in the dance along with Al-Jasser and Salman Abdullah Al-Hamdan. The ceremony exhibited the Najdi folkloric dance "Ardhah". The dance was performed by a dance group with the open participation of the attendees of the ceremony. Tyler expressed he was honored to be a part of the Saudi heritage and to have had the chance to experience some of the Saudi traditions during his stay.
