The Airtours Cruise Intranet: Streamlining the distribution of information, knowledge and money

The technical and organisational infrastructure and operations of this ‘state-of-the-art’ Intranet, which cost-effectively streamlines the distribution of information, knowledge and money are outlined.

Abstract

Airtours PLC is one of the largest vertically integrated tour operator groups in the world, and is partly-owned by Carnival Corporation, the world's largest cruise ship operator. The Airtours Cruise Division currently operates four wholly-owned cruise ships, servicing passengers from many different states in Europe and North America. The Airtours Cruise Division has implemented an advanced Intranet, i.e. a virtual private corporate network based on Internet-technologies. This Intranet links, via land lines and satellites, the Airtours cruise ships and all offices of the Airtours Cruise Division worldwide. Using this communication infrastructure, both voice and data are distributed between different locations as required. This paper outlines, in case study form, the technical and organisational infrastructure and operations of this 'state-of-the-art' Intranet, which cost-effectively streamlines the distribution of information, knowledge and money.