Direct-channel Orders that reach the airport

Airline retailing only creates value when it carries through to operations. Ink and FLYR collaborated on a working proof in which Offer and Order operate coherently with Delivery, under airline control and without a PSS dependency. The implementation has been exercised with real orders in a pre-production setting.

Roles and interfaces

FLYR runs Offer-Order. It provides shopping inputs, pricing intelligence, and manages order creation and lifecycle.

Ink runs Delivery. It executes airport processes such as check-in, ancillary fulfilment, and status updates that write back to the same order.

A concise catalogue and stock keeper define what may be sold. Offers are priced. Orders are created and maintained. Delivery reads and writes the same record. The integration boundary is explicit, so components can be replaced without breaking the journey. The airline remains the integrator.

How the flow behaves in operation

Shopping to order. Travellers search for flights and ancillaries. FLYR prices options and creates the order, recording payment events where applicable. Only the data required for alignment moves between domains, so state remains consistent.

Delivery back to order, and to offer when relevant. The order loads into Ink at the airport. Agents check in, add seats or upgrades, and update delivery status. Those actions post to the same order in real time. Subsequent offers can draw on the current state rather than on reconciled copies. The effect is straightforward. Retail and operations see the same truth, and legacy documents appear only for itineraries that still require them.

What the proof demonstrates

• One record across commercial and operational teams. Airport actions are not a side system. The order reflects them immediately and the same truth is visible to retail and airport staff.
• Servicing from delivery touchpoints without drift. Agents can shop and fulfil ancillaries from the delivery side. Pricing remains consistent and the order remains coherent.
• Legacy as an exception. Documents are produced only for journeys that still require them. The default stays order-centric.

Industry footing

IATA’s Modern Airline Retailing programme is moving the industry from document-based processes to journeys governed by a single order, structured around the reference business architecture RP1786a across Product, Offer, Order, Accounting, and Delivery. This work ran within IATA’s multivendor modularity programme, where mixed teams defined clear interfaces and built live, interoperable flows. The Ink and FLYR case sits inside this framework. FLYR runs Offer and Order. Ink runs Delivery. Both work against the same order record, so airport activity and commercial state remain aligned.

Operational implications airlines can plan for

• Control. The airline stays the integrator. You decide the sequence of change and avoid a single-vendor choke point.
• Coherence. One order record reduces mismatches across channels and cuts post-fact corrections for finance.
• Reversible progress. Replaceable parts behind stable interfaces let you add or swap capabilities without destabilising the stack.

Already moving toward live use

“Working with FLYR, we’re bringing data-driven retailing to life on the direct channel. This integration enables airlines to create, sell, and service offers in real-time — a key step toward modernising airline retail,” noted Ben Waymark, VP Product Architecture, Ink Innovation.

Ink and FLYR are moving this into live use at Riyadh Air, with Offer-Order-Delivery aligned to the industry’s modern retailing framework.

Tony Douglas, CEO of Riyadh Air, said,

“The partnership will deliver a truly personalised and seamless travel experience, exceeding expectations at every step of the journey and offering our guests a virtually unlimited range of options at every touchpoint.”