TravelMole Interview: Jim Fatah, managing director, JFA Systems

Tuesday, 16 Jul, 2003 0

Software provider, JFA Systems says its latest offering – combining an established reservation system with modern software – is the ideal product for operators of any size.

The Crawley-based company has combined its FATS reservation system (Fast Access Travel System) with Travel Centre, which is a Microsoft server-based system, to produce a complete offering called Travel 21.

JFA managing director, Jim Fatah told TravelMole: “The combination of an established powerful traditional multi-user core reservation system together with Microsoft-based tools like reporting, web screens and hyperlinks is a good one because it has the best of both worlds.”

JFA counts Disney, Thomson Ski, Crystal Holidays and Esprit among its customers. He says that JFA’s current operator solution has “over the years, begun to show its age”, which is why the company has developed Travel 21.

According to Mr Fatah, the system is virus-proof. He said: “You might also be interested to know that the VMS operating system that the core reservations system runs on (FATS) is also used by the US Military and is effectively virus proof. In 20 years of working with the operating system I have never heard of any VMS system being infected.”

Mr Fatah says it is ideal for someone who wants a tried and tested system that is reliable, but doesn’t want to use old-fashioned screens. He says anyone with broadband internet can access the company’s bureau, making the system more cost effective.

He said: “It will appeal to large and small operators, but particularly smaller operators because there is little else out there on offer to them.”

According to Mr Fatah, once operators reach the 5,000th passenger, the cost of a booking per passenger drops to £1.

He claims Travel 21 will increase operators’ sales efficiency due to the speed of the system. He added: “We can offer operators a direct-sell option as well as an agent-specific website that means they can avoid Viewdata – which lowers cost and enables agents to access more information.”

Although JFA focuses on the web, Travel 21 customers can choose to have Viewdata if they wish.

Read our previous interviews:
27-June-2003 TravelMole Interview: Andy Cooper, director general, FTO
20-June-2003 TravelMole Interview: Vic Macchio, executive director, TOWARD
13-June-2003 TravelMole Interview: Mark Thomas, founder, Infovisual
13-June-2003 TravelMole Interview: Ian Reynolds, chief executive, ABTA
06-June-2003 Interview: James Smithner, senior analyst, Control Risks Group