IDEC eliminates the need for the receiving airline to duplicate the input of data already performed by the billing carrier.
- Significantly reduced data capture cost
- Common set of standards for exchange of data
- Capacity for the complete data-capture needs of sales-based systems.
The IDEC input file is an electronic version of the hard-copy coupon listing and invoice. An airline sends a file to the IDEC Processing Centre at ATPCO, containing details of documentation billed to other participants. In return, the airline receives from the centre a file containing details of its documents billed by the other participants.
All the major airlines are Members of IDEC and current membership stands at 244. IDEC Membership (pdf).
In the year ended 2008, total volumes processed exceeded 100 million.
Fees
After a one time joining fee of USD500, carriers are billed based on the size of their monthly output files.