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Customer Story

Volotea Leads the Way With New API & Mobile Apps

Combining a refreshed GDS integration with two brand-new mobile applications gave Europe’s leading low-cost airline a huge competitive advantage
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Software Technology

Industry
Travel | Hospitality

Company
Xebia

Volotea, the airline of European mid and small-sized cities, offers direct flights at very competitive prices. Since its creation in April 2012, Volotea has carried more than twenty-two million passengers across Europe and over six million in 2018. In 2019, Volotea operated 319 routes among more than eighty medium and small-sized cities in thirteen countries. The airline partners with Navitaire, a global distribution system (GDS), to use its product New Skies: a digital-first reservation, retailing and e-commerce platform that specializes in serving the low-cost short-haul sector.
Why
Volotea needed to enhance its team to complete challenges of new API integration and mobile apps
What
Development teams created tailored API solutions that integrated GDS system with new applications
How
New GDS connection gave Volotea better platform for growth, while users were impressed with new apps

Wanted: Backend and Mobile Developers

After its long-term flight reservation partner Navitaire upgraded the API integration method to the new “dotREZ REST” API framework, Volotea needed to adapt to stay up-to-date and take advantage of the more advanced features.

It also wanted to diversify its team to allow for more and better innovations on existing platforms, which would put Volotea in a better position to expand further in mobile app development. Along with the necessary backend changes for the new API connection, Volotea decided to entirely redesign its interface with mobile in mind, to create two entirely new applications for iOS and Android.

The company approached Xebia to provide both backend and mobile teams to support these projects.

Customized APIs Enhance Booking Systems

The expanded Volotea teams worked on both sides of the project: the new API integration with Navitaire and the new Volotea mobile applications.

For the re-integration with Navitaire, the airline needed to develop its own client-specific customization of the dotREZ REST API model. This included ensuring that it seamlessly integrated with Volotea’s new custom API for the mobile apps, meaning the teams working on each part of the project had to collaborate every step of the way.

The new mobile platform was created using Amazon’s API Gateway, allowing it to be created, published, maintained, monitored and secured at any scale, and perfectly suited to the frontend applications developed by Volotea’s team. The mobile developers used industry-leading Xamarin tools to develop the iOS and Android apps simultaneously.

“With Xebia’s technical engagement, we became one of the first airlines working with Navitaire to use the dotREZ REST API, and our framework has become a best practice example of the integration. Our new applications are scalable, future-proof, as well as faster and easier to maintain.”
Volotea
Alex Rodriguez IT Director, Volotea

Increased Customer Satisfaction

Volotea was the first of over one hundred airlines working with Navitaire to use the dotREZ REST API, giving the airline a big competitive advantage when connecting to travel agencies. The framework provides the airline with many benefits: maintenance and expansion have become significantly cheaper, easier, and faster, while the platform is now high-performance and future-proof.

The expansive backend and mobile development has led to Volotea releasing brand new mobile applications in both iOS and Android. The use of Xamarin for cross-platform development means both apps can seamlessly share code, rendering app maintenance far more cost-effective. Most importantly, the apps themselves make a great first impression on users, with designs that are eye-catching, aesthetic, and user-friendly — significantly increasing customer satisfaction.

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