Vol. 16
In 2017, a special issue of the Journal of Revenue & Pricing Management will publish a series of papers on the future of airline pricing and revenue management. Revenue management techniques were first developed for the airline industry in the 70s and 80s and have evolved over time to adapt to changing market conditions such as the development of origin-destination methods in the 90s in response to the restructuring of airline networks around large connecting hubs and more recently new forecasting and optimization techniques such as sell-up forecasting and fare adjustment to adapt to the relaxation of fare rules brought by the growth of low-cost airlines.
Today, there are a number of structural changes on the horizon that are all facilitated by the rapid decrease in data storage and processing cost also sometimes referred as “big data” and will have major implications for the theory and practice of airline pricing and revenue management. First, a major shift in airline distribution is in the works. Through the New Distribution Capability (NDC) initiative developed by IATA, airlines are aiming to achieve a greater degree of control on how itineraries and prices are constructed and their content is distributed including through third-party distribution channels such as online travel agents and travel management companies. This has the potential to significantly disrupt existing pricing and revenue management models, including how fares are filed and distributed and the dichotomy between pricing and inventory management.
At the same time, ancillary products and bundles have grown quickly in recent years and new revenue management techniques are needed to manage this growing revenue stream and integrate it within existing revenue management systems. The decrease in the cost of data storage has also allowed airlines to collect and store large volumes of competitive fare information. New models based on a better understanding of customer shopping behavior are needed to leverage these new data sources and make revenue management models more dynamic and reactive to real-time market conditions. Th ese “big data” techniques also finally make it feasible to start integrating revenue management and Loyalty/CRM systems and new models adapted to the airline industry are needed to personalize how content is offered and displayed to each customer.
Recommended topic areas to consider for inclusion in this special issue include, but are not limited to, the following:
1. Impact of changes in distribution models on pricing and revenue management.
How to reduce and eliminate the dichotomy between airline pricing and inventory management? Is this the end of the booking class? How to prepare for it and develop integrated dynamic pricing models that supplement and/or replace the pricing and inventory management functions?
2. How to manage ancillary products and/or bundle them into fare categories/families? Topics include models to maximize ancillary revenue streams, design product bundles and how to integrate ancillary revenue with the core revenue management system that is managing base ticket revenues

3. Leverage competitive fare data. Questions of interest include how to best leverage this growing source of data to make inventory management more dynamic and responsive to real-time market conditions? This includes how to better estimate the relationship between price and demand in airline markets and get a better understanding of customer behavior during the shopping process.
4. How to develop new revenue management techniques that leverages information available about each customer in CRM/Loyalty systems to develop personalized offers and optimize the display of content? Can the airline industry adopt the same techniques leading online retailers have developed over the last decade?
How can they be adapted to the airline marketplace?
5. The evolving role of the pricing/inventory management analyst. How to develop tools that help analysts take advantage of these new sources of information?
How to leverage new data visualization tools such as Tableau?
6. How to communicate about revenue management to increase acceptance of RM techniques among the general public? What types of information would help the public understand the benefits of revenue management and make more informed decisions about their travel purchases? How to deliver it to a large audience?
What is the best communication strategy toward the mainstream media?
We welcome academic papers, practitioner’s papers, case studies, and other relevant contribution to produce a ground breaking special issue dedicated to the future of airline pricing and revenue management.
Submission of abstract:
Abstracts should be submitted to emmanuel.carrier@delta.com
Please insert in the title line of the email - Journal of Revenue & Pricing
Management – Future of Airline Pricing and Revenue Management.
The abstract should be approximately 400 words.
The Journal of Revenue & Pricing Management serves as a bridge between practice and theory in order to advance the field through dissemination and publication of leading articles for the benefit of industry and the wider community. A strong emphasis is placed on the utility value of research in which application is demonstrated. This must be demonstrated in the abstract.
An abstract is required that considers the following points
Title of the proposed paper (essential)
Contributing authors and contact details (essential)
Purpose of proposal (essential)
Main findings (if appropriate)
Research methodology (if appropriate)
Theoretical contribution (if appropriate)
Forms of paper (i.e., research, practitioner, thoughts)
Utility Value for practitioners or industry (essential)
Four key words

Details about the journal and author guidelines can be found at http://www.palgravejournals.com/rpm/index.htm
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Deadlines
Abstract Proposal: 31 st March 2016
Publication: March 2017
Queries
Advice about the suitability of papers and other enquiries can be sent to:
Emmanuel Carrier emmanuel.carrier@delta.com