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"I like to be in control of my life and Carmen is a huge step in that direction" Lena Ostrovsky, Purser MD-80 and B-767, Spanair Roberto Mosquera, Captain MD-80 and Instructor, Spanair

N e w s

August 26, 1999: Carmen on the European Tech Tour The European Tech Tour Association (ETT), founded in 1998, organizes onsite visits to emerging technology companies in selected countries. The goals of the organization are to increase interaction between ETT participants and to contribute to the development of European innovative enterprises in the high technology sector.


July 20, 1999: Continued sales increase in Q2 '99 The interim report for the first six months of '99 confirms the growth in sales reported after the first quarter of '99 (+58%). Key figures for the first six months include: Revenues rose with 11% compared to Q1, yielding an operating income of SEK 0.8 million. Service revenues represent 54% of total sales, and has risen almost at the same speed as product (licence) sales. Expansion of operation and staff continue according to plan, and staff size has increased with 15% reaching 63 people in total.


June 30, 1999: Mexicana purchases Carmen Pairing! Mexicana, the second oldest airline in the Americas and the fourth world-wide, is Carmen's newest customer. In June Mexicana and Carmen signed a three-year rental agreement for Carmen Pairing. Mexicana Airlines, is North America's pioneer airline and the fourth oldest in the world after KLM, Avianca and Qantas. Mexicana have over 8 million passengers annually and operates a fleet of 51 aircraft made up of 24 Boeing 727-200, 3 Boeing 757-200, 14 Airbus A320 and 10 Fokker F100s. Mexicana's network now includes 32 cities in Mexico, 8 in the U.S., two in Canada, three in Central America, five in South America and one in the Caribbean. Mexicana will during year 2000 be a member of the Star Alliance(tm). As one of the major carriers in the Latin American market, Mexicana will be an important addition to the Star Alliance network. Carmen now serves 14 major airlines in the world. "With Mexicana on board we have strengthen our position in the Americas which is one of the most important regions for us and a strategic step in the globalisation of the company says Per Norén, Carmen's CEO. I warmly welcome Mexicana to Carmen and I am convinced that both companies will benefit a lot from the co-operation". Welcome to Carmen, Mexicana!


June 18, 1999: Continued success for Carmen FLEET at SJ The SJ Group is the major rail transport service company in Sweden and operates on a commercial basis with its core business in rail transport for both passenger and cargo services. The number of employees are close to 15 thousands and the network is served with 2,500 daily departures. SJ has now placed an order for additional development of the FLEET product, which has been in production since mid '98. "The FLEET product is used by SJ for engine planning and assignment, and is one of the tools for meeting the overall SJ objective of improving resource efficiency by 5%", says Jolanta Drott, Project Manager at SJ. The additional FLEET development include, amongst others, improved functionality for solving and optimizing timetable irregularities, for instance during major holidays. The new version will be delivered to SJ during the third quarter of this year.


May 14, 1999: Release Carmen 6.0 In June Carmen releases a new Carmen version, Carmen 6.0. The new version is currently being tested by some of our clients and by Carmen Customer Services. The new version contains new optimization functionality for both Crew Assignment and Pairing. Carmen 6.0 also contains a new user interface, dynamic report functionality, configuration management and much more. I am really proud to say that our development department has done a state-of-the-art work. Carmen 6.0 contains essential improvements and new functionality that both the market and our existing clients have asked for, says Carmen's CTO Erik Andersson.


May 5 , 1999: Carmen Crew Maintenace to Spanair We are happy to announce that Spanair and Carmen Systems have signed a letter of understanding about Carmen's Crew Maintenance product. Spanair will use the system to maintain the published crew rosters until a few days before it goes into operation. Spanair is currently using Carmen Pairing and Carmen Crew Assignment products.


Apr 17, 1999: 58% sales increase in Q1 ´99 Carmen's expansion is continuing and accelerating. The growth rate in sales for 1998 climbed to 50%(20%). Financial highlights for '98 include, sales totalled SEK 44.2 million (29.5) and the operating income rose to SEK 4.6(2.9) million. The long-term rental and maintenance agreements' share of revenue continues to climb and represents 64% of sales. Staff increased by 55%(22%) and there were 51 employees on 31 December. Result for Q1,'99, confirm the market's acceptance and confidence of our new products. Sales have risen by 58% and the operating income was SEK 1.3 million for the period.


Apr 16, 1999: Air France in full production Air France has been in full production with Carmen's pairing system since the start of the year. This means that all Air France crew now have their pairings scheduled by the Carmen system. As previously reported in Carmen's Voice, the short-haul implementation finished over a year ago. Carmen and Air France planners have worked closely together over the past year, to configure the Carmen system for Air France's massive long-haul operations. Some of the most difficult - and interesting - planning problems occurred with Air France's impressive B747 cargo fleet. Extensive deadheading by other airlines (OAGs) is needed to construct the cargo pairings - an element that severely increases the complexity of the problem. The automatic pairing generation in Carmen's system provided new solution structures and was a valuable source of inspiration for planners. The long-haul solution has required Carmen to further develop the product. For example, the slip chart functionality was dramatically extended to meet the requirements of both the planners and Air France's maintenance department and has become an indispensable tool. After three months in production, Air France considers the introduction of Carmen Pairing a huge success. The Carmen pairing system is providing Air France with substantial benefits in optimizing resources - particularly in the short-haul operations² states the project's director Michel Delsaux.


Apr 14, 1999: Iberia Using Carmen Crew Pairing Iberia has implemented Carmen Pairing after a very quick customization process. The first pairings produced by Carmen Pairing were flown on 1 April. The project started in October and the first pairings were published at the beginning of March. Knowing that December is only half a productive month, it means that Carmen Pairing has been put into production within five calendar months. "The project has run much more smoothly than we thought, as there was a language and cultural barrier to climb over. The strong commitment from both companies' project teams has made the hard work fun," says José Ignacio Huerta Project Manager at Iberia. Management and crew have all said that they are happy with the pairings constructed with Carmen Pairing.


Mar 19, 1999: New Sales and Marketing Director Magnus Wennerholm has joined Carmen as Sales and Marketing Director. Magnus is 41 years old and has many years of international experience from the software industry at Ericsson and Oracle. "Magnus' wide range of know-how will be of significant value for both Carmen and our clients. As well as marketing Carmen's products and services, he will be developing new business" says President Per Noren.		Magnus Wennerholm


February 24, 1999: Carmen North America We are proud to announce that Gilles Gagnon and Nina Visconti have joined Carmen. They are both senior professionals, with a strong reputation in our industry. As Vice President of International Business Development, Gilles will act worldwide to develop Carmen's business. Nina contributes with impressive experience from several areas of airline operations, and will work as Director of Pre-Sales support. See presentations below:
GILLES L. GAGNON, C.E.T., MBA Executive with over twenty years of management experience in operations, marketing and general management in the computer, telecommunications, engineering services and software industries, with companies operating internationally. Mr. Gagnon has a broad experience in the airline industry and a specific and recent experience in marketing software for Crew Assignment applications. Mr. Gagnon will work from Carmen Systems' North American office.
NINA M. VISCONTI B. SC., MA Senior manager with over twelve years of management experience in the operations, the development, production and support of airline applications and marketing in the airline industry. Ms Visconti has hands on experience in Crew Assingment and Day of Operation environment, furthermore she has project management experience in developing Crew Assignment systems. Ms Visconti will work from Carmen Systems' North American office.


February 24, 1999: Carmen is the best IT investment! British Airways' pairings are now being produced by Carmen and BA has achieved considerable cost savings. "Carmen is the best IT investment I have ever been involved with at British Airways. Our investment payed off in only a few months" says Neil Cottrell, Senior Manager Manpower Development. Both short-haul and long-haul planners at BA are now using the same system to produce their pairings. "Finding a solution for the short-haul planning problem was straight forward, but British Airways' long-haul program was a challenge to Carmen", says Lars Söderqvist, Project Manager at Carmen. Carmen's Timetable Manager contributed significantly to making the Carmen product solve BA's large, and ever-changing long-haul planning problem. Various aspects of the Pairing product were also improved to meet the long-haul planners requirements. The next generation of Carmen will therefore contain a number of benefits gained from working with BA. Per Norén, Carmen's President, states: "By working with British Airways, Carmen has become a serious player in the major long-haul carriers arena". The BA solution deals with four different planning areas and is the first implementation to cover the whole of the company: * the long-haul operations with 19 crew bases. * the short-haul operations with four British crew bases. * the EuroGatwick operations based at Gatwick. * British Airways Regional, operating from Birmingham and Manchester The different areas naturally had different requirements, which added up to a substantial overall solution. Rule sets and reports have been handed over to the project team at BA, who take care of new requirements from the continuously changing use of the system. We are looking forward to a long and fruitful relationship with British Airways!


February 24, 1999: Aviaco - our latest client Aviaco, which is one of the short-haul and medium-haul carriers in Spain, is Carmen's latest client. Aviaco decided in December to use the Carmen Pairing system. The company will also evaluate Carmen Crew Assignment and Carmen Preferential Bidding during the spring.


February 24, 1999: Carmen Consulting Carmen has expanded its business activities by starting its own consultancy firm, Carmen Consulting AB. The new company, which was set up on 1st January, will provide our clients with top of the range consultancy services such as analysis, modeling, prototyping and system development in the planning, scheduling and resource optimization sectors. The firm will eventually be located in Stockholm and a team of experts is being recruited to meet the challenging demands from present and future clients. "We will naturally complement Carmen", states Erik Hasselberg who has been appointed Managing Director of the new company. "Our activities will be closely related to Carmen Systems' core business, but we will also be working with a wider range of projects that don't have to be directly related to Carmen's current suite of products." Carmen Consulting's first project involves a new scheduling model and prototype system for ground staff scheduling at Göteborg-Landvetter airport.


September 21, 1998: Aeromexico implements Carmen in record time Aeromexico, the leading airline in central America, has signed a leasing contract for the Carmen Pairing system. After a short benchmark in June this year, Aeromexico crews were flying Carmen-produced pairings already in July. This is an all-time implementation record. Carmen is very impressed with Aeromexico's determination to go ahead. Naturally, the cost savings are great, and Aeromexico has also been very successful in using Carmen's rule flexibility in negotiations. With a single-base operation of more than 2500 weekly flight legs, the Aeromexico network has many similarities to those of the large European carriers, so it makes a lot of sense to share experiences across the Atlantic. We welcome Aeromexico to the users' group, and we're looking forward to a fruitful cooperation!


September 21, 1998: SJ in production with Carmen Fleet Since June 1998, the Swedish State Railways (SJ) is in production with Carmen Fleet for scheduling of locomotives. Flexibility and speed have proven to be important benefits since the Carmen Fleet system was successfully implemented at SJ - the major railway operator in Sweden. "The introduction of a sophisticated tool for scheduling, simulation and analysis is important but the benefits in cost savings are of vital importance for our competitiveness", emphasizes Jolanta Drott, project manager at SJ. The introduction of modern IT is absolutely necessary for managing a railway operation, which is such a complex industrial system. We need improvements in speed, flexibility, and of course, cost savings to refine our production processes. The Carmen Fleet has been developed in close cooperation with us. And we are convinced that we now have a modern tool for optimizing our locomotive fleet. Carmen Fleet helps us to decide what type of locomotive to use for a certain assignment, and it also creates rotations for all locomotives", says Jolanta Drott, who is in charge of modernizing the processes for resource utilization of both crew and rolling stock such as locomotives and wagons.


September 21, 1998: Spanair in production Since June 1998, Carmen Pairing has been in full production at Spanair - all according to the plan. Carmen Pairing is used for the cockpit and cabin in all Spanair's fleet: MD 80 and Boeing 767. With its 24 aircraft and six bases, Spanair combines charter and scheduled flights. The next step is to put Carmen Crew Assignment into production, which is planned for late 1998. The Spanair pairing problem is real tricky. The base distribution and OAG search problems are among the most complicated that Carmen has solved so far. The rules for crew augmentation and the language restrictions compound the problems. Despite this, the implementation project has been running very smoothly. "It's a pleasure to work with Spanair!" says Erik Kilborn, Project Manager, Carmen. "The company is young and flexible; it has short decision-making paths and highly competent IT personnel. From the very start of the project, we have worked in close cooperation with Spanair's experienced planners. These types of efforts make a project successful." Because of the good cooperation between Carmen and Spanair, the difficult pairing problems could be solved within the project plan's time frame. SAS also contributed its planning expertise during the pairing phase. The project is a success, and all involved parties are satisfied. Here's what Spanair representatives have to say about Carmen Pairing: "It's the first time I've seen a system that truly optimizes crew utilization. It's funny, because we actually must stop the system from going too far!" Manuel Mañas Deputy Director, Operations "After 15 years of experience in crew planning I'm fascinated when I work with Carmen because it allows planners to use their experiences and knowledge, which they can direct into the system. This results in a perfect symbiosis." Paz Menéndez Cockpit Planner "One of Carmen's qualities that I admire the most is its flexibility. It lets users achieve the desired solution, which can be selected from an enormous number of possible options. Users can configure menus and reports the way they want them. And they can create required parameters and rules to enable major control for obtaining the final solution." Tomeu Cabot Project Coordinator "Just like other women, Carmen organizes our lives." Spanair pilot


July 9, 1998: Iberia - a new customer! Iberia, Spain's largest airline, is Carmen's newest customer. In June, Iberia and Carmen signed a letter of intent for Carmen Pairing, Carmen Crew Assignment, and Carmen's Preferential Bidding system. The contract between Iberia and Carmen will be worked out and signed in August/September. The contract applies to all fleet and for both cockpit and cabin personnel. This will be one of Carmen's largest business deals. Carmen now serves 11 airlines. With Iberia, Carmen will serve the eight largest European airlines. "Iberia is an important, strategic customer," says Per Norén, Carmen's Managing Director. "Iberia was a missing puzzle piece on the European map. The deal with Iberia strengthens Carmen's position in Europe, and we will continue work closely with our European customers. With Europe as a base, we will go global and reach customers in other parts of the world, such as North and South America and Asia." Iberia is Europe's seventh largest airline with 3600 flights per week. It employs 1500 pilots and 3100 cabin personnel. Carmen will work closely with Iberia's representatives on site in Spain. We warmly welcome Iberia to Carmen!