Looks like Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) may have dibs on designing a completely new system for airline reservations. American Airlines (NYSE: AMR) brought the first automated attempt at reservations almost five decades ago -- and oddly, it's still in wide use today. I'm not that sure air travel has changed any in that time. Are you?
The new system -- codenamed Jetstream -- could become the next airline industry standard and would allow HP to really put its EDS purchase from 2008 into good use. This kind of custom industry programming and system creation is EDS's specialty. AMR and HP agreed to develop Jetstream over the next four years, which will be principally aimed at removing costs through improved efficiency and consistency.
HP is the real winner here, as it would be in the position to sell Jetstream to every other airline looking to match AMR's improved customer handling capabilities (read: all the international competition). With PC sales continuing to grow at a tepid pace (and margins not really going anywhere fast), HP needs to branch out with more revenue streams, and this seems like a perfect example that will allow it to remain the largest computer manufacturing company in the world -- and one of the largest custom software concerns as well.
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