Correspondence: Ben Vinod, Vice President and Chief Innovator, 3150 Sabre Drive, Southlake, Texas 76092, USA. Tel: +1 682 605 4378; Fax: +1 682 605 7648; E-mail: benvinod@yahoo.com

¹Ben Vinod currently serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Innovator at Sabre Airline Solutions. Prior to rejoining Sabre, he served (2000–03) as Vice President of CRM and Revenue & Price Optimisation business units at i2 Technologies. At Sabre (1985–99), Dr Vinod was Vice President of Airline Solutions, responsible for pricing and yield management. He earned a PhD in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University with a concentration in Operations Research.

Received 20 August 2007; Revised 20 August 2007.

Abstract

This paper presents a new paradigm for revenue management — customer-centric revenue management. In an effort to retain profitable customers, airlines are investing in advanced analytics to gain insights into customer traits and preferences. Central to the data analytics and data mining initiatives is the revenue management and inventory control process for recommending the right offer to a customer and sales channel. A range of initiatives are discussed for acquiring new customers and retaining existing customers, followed by current trends and demands from the airline community.