Virgin Atlantic Airways has signed a new IT services agreement with EDS, extending an existing 25-year relationship between the companies.

The new agreement will last an initial five years during which EDS will provide Virgin with the next generation of its airline reservations solution, EDS Reservation Services. The system will be hosted and maintained on behalf of the airline. New features to be included are Electronic Miscellaneous Documents (EMD), which allow Virgin Atlantic employees to electronically capture and account for ancillary sales, and Ticket Re-issue and Refund (TRR) software that automates a formerly labor-intensive function and improves customer service.

“We are impressed with EDS' vision for their new reservations platform and how this will enable Virgin Atlantic to exploit a service-oriented architecture (SOA) to provide improved customer services, greater agility and lower costs,” said Mike Cope, IT director at Virgin Atlantic. “This builds on our long-standing partnership with EDS during which time Virgin Atlantic has grown to become Britain's second-largest airline serving the world's major cities.”

Also new to the agreement, EDS will use its airline service-oriented architecture (AirlineSOA) that connects software and systems to better integrate Virgin Atlantic's operations and help meet the airline's unique market needs. Each of these new functionalities helps Virgin Atlantic lower core reservations services costs and add new revenue opportunities.