Sabre Airline Solutions has signed a US$15 million agreement with Air China to implement a modern Flight Operations Control Center.

The project, Air China's largest of this kind with a foreign partner, will help it attain better aircraft utilization and fuel efficiency. The system will also automate the management of over 6,000 cabin and cockpit crew in a way that is both efficient for the airline and desirable to the crew.

Sabre will provide Air China with its Sabre AirOps Suite including Sabre Movement Manager, Sabre Dispatch Manager, Sabre Load Manager; and Sabre AirCrews Crew Management Suite. Sabre's airline consulting practice will play a major role in using deep industry expertise to implement the technology solution.

"This is a business project that is focused on Air China reaching new levels of operational excellence. Air China already serves 106 destinations in 22 countries. As we expand our fleet and crew over the next two years, it will be critical for us to manage our operations using integrated scalable technology in combination with solid business processes. This is what Sabre will do with us," said Zhu Song Yan, general manager of IT, Air China.

The Flight Operations Control Center is the heart of an airline's daily operations. This integrated center coordinates the day-to-day, minute-to-minute operation of the airline, providing a centralized, real-time operational control and management of the airline's overall flight operation, including flight schedule, aircraft movement control, dispatch, flight planning, weight and balance, crew management and other aspects of flight coordination.

Sabre Airline Solutions also provides integrated flight operations solutions to China Southern and China Eastern.

At the completion of this project, 89% of all mainland Chinese flights will be planned using Sabre software, and 82% of all mainland Chinese flights will be managed operationally, using Sabre software.