53 Russian airlines have completely switched to domestic automated booking systems for air passengers’ registration, the press service of the Ministry of Transport reported.
"As a result, information security and protection of personal data of passengers and crews, independence of passenger transportation from foreign systems, possible failures and disconnections were ensured," the ministry emphasized.
Before, most major Russian airlines used foreign passenger booking service platforms: Aeroflot and Rossiya – the American Sabre, Ural Airlines and S7 Airlines – the Spanish Amadeus, Pobeda – Navitaire (by Amadeus). In order to protect the personal data of passengers and ensure technological independence, in the summer of 2019, the government issued Decree No. 955, according to which carriers had to localize inventory systems in Russia by the end of October 2021.
Major carriers also expected foreign providers to move their servers to Russia. The American company Sabre announced plans for localization. To do this, in 2019, it created a joint venture Sabre Intergroup with the system integrator Integro Technologies (each has 50%).
At the end of May 2021, the Spanish Amadeus reported on the localization of personal data of Russian passengers in the Russian cloud. But after February 24, 2022 these steps were no longer relevant. In August, the government issued a new directive, according to which reservation systems must belong to the state or organizations whose shareholders do not include foreigners and Russians with dual citizenship.
Also, the automated system and all its elements should not have the functions of forced updating and management from abroad. All these measures should help to avoid disruptions in the work of airlines, "which may occur if the owners of foreign information systems impose restrictions on their use," the description of the resolution says.
Russian airlines could from two Russian systems. The first is Leonardo, the developer of which is Sirena Travel in partnership with the state corporation Rostech, the second is TAIS (developed by ORS). According to Rostech representatives, Leonardo is currently used by 68 airlines, of which 50 are Russian with a total volume of about 45 million passengers per year.
Russian airlines and system developers have ensured the migration in difficult conditions due to the refusal of some Western partners to provide initial data, said Dmitry Bakanov, Deputy Minister of Transport of Russia. "The transition to Russian booking systems ensures the information security of transportation, uninterrupted air traffic and it eliminates the threat of leakage of personal data of passengers and crews," he pointed out.
