The project of reform and revival that saved JAL

Tomohiro then succeeded Ueki as head of the Sakura Project and transferred up to 50 project members from IT planning to the PSPD. The team then consisted of around 100 people, but expanded to over 300 at its peak, with around 200 from JAL Infotec, the IT planning department, airport subsidiary JAL Sky, and call center subsidiary JAL Navia. And another 150 from partner companies like Nomura Research Institute (NRI), later taken over by IBM Japan, and Sigmaxyz.

“Initially, the company’s reorganization plan identified outdated IT in several areas, so the IT planning department requested NRI’s assistance in reviewing the entire system,” adds Sugihara. “One aspect of the plan was updating the PSS, so NRI came in at the initial stage, but when it came time to put the plan into action, IBM Japan, who had worked on the POS system in the past, began to get more involved.”

IBM took charge of upgrading JALCOM’s peripheral systems and managing the project, and Sigmaxyz was in charge of project management to customize Altea. But as the introduction of PSS progressed, a problem emerged regarding the complicated fare system for domestic flights, which is divided into discounts and reservation protocol not in sync with the global standard.