By Brian Proffitt
Managing Editor
As a private pilot, I have a special place in my heart for
things that fly. So it troubles me when I see airlines in the US
floundering under bankruptcy, foreclosures, and all sorts of
business problems.
My wife travels quite a bit for her job, so I was amazed to hear
that on the flight she took home last week, the airline she used
not only gave her minimal snacks, but they charged her $1 for the
little bag of peanuts she was given.
Now, I realize that a dollar for a bag of peanuts is, well,
peanuts. But it irks me a bit to see a business sticking such costs
to the consumer when they have a perfectly good solution to reduce
costs on a massive scale–far more than overcharging passengers for
snacks.
The answer is simple: switch their IT infrastructure to
Linux.
I don’t know what this particular airline is using for their IT;
they may be using Linux already. But somehow I doubt it. I do know
that a majority of airlines are not using free or open source
software on large scale deployments. They are sticking with their
legacy UNIX and Windows systems for their operations. I know of one
regional airline that was quite specific in their reasons what they
weren’t migrating to Linux: they told me, off the record, that
switching to Linux was probably a good idea, but the extra costs of
migration would be too much. When I responded that they’d been
hearing too much FUD, they replied that it wasn’t a matter of
speculation for them–their budgets were so tight, any migration
costs could tip the entire airline over.
It seems, then, a classic Catch-22: they can’t spend money to
save money, and they can’t save money without spending some.
But something, somewhere, has to give. I am not the only one
saying this, either. Unisys, in their capacity as IT consultant,
just released a report this week indicating that in order to move
towards profitability, airlines would have to implement
self-service technology, RFID, and (you guessed it) open source
technology. Unisys cited decreased operating costs and increased
interoperability as the best reasons for using open source. I would
concur, including reliability and stability to that list as
well.
I realize that Unisys is not a favorite company amongst the
community, and let’s not kid ourselves: this report is a way to
communicate to potential customers what Unisys can do for their
airline. Still, this message is very likely the best message for
the airlines to hear, no matter who the messenger happens to
be.
Airlines, obviously, have other problems than what they spend on
their computers. Rising fuel, legacy pensions, fluctuating
passenger levels–these are all contributing to the problem. But
there is no magic airline fairy who will enable all of these
problems to disappear simultaneously. In reality, these problems
must all be faced one at a time. Fixing IT costs won’t save the
airlines by itself. But it will but these companies on the right
track.
Linux is clearly the best technology for the struggling airlines
to use. This is an industry that has seen a lot of hard times, and
may very well continue to navigate difficult straits. The employees
and customers of an airline deserve to have the very best tools for
the most reasonable price. Moving to open source will realize
airlines real savings.
A savings far beyond mere peanuts.