Transforming Data Reconciliation for a Leading South Asian Airline

Industry: Aviation 

Service: Automated Airline Transaction Reconciliation 

The Client 

A leading South Asian airline with operations in over 25 countries, known for its extensive route network and strong partnerships with global travel agencies. While their flights connected cities across continents, their back-end operations were weighed down by one persistent challenge — a complex, fragmented ticketing transaction ecosystem. 

The Challenge 

Every ticket sold passed through a web of over 85 vendors, from large online travel brokers to small regional agencies. Each source had its own quirks — different file formats, inconsistent date styles, multiple currencies, and varying reporting standards. 

What should have been a straightforward reconciliation process became a painstaking exercise of manual matching, correcting, and converting. Financial accuracy was at risk, and the operational burden on the finance team was growing month by month. With global expansion came data chaos — and the need for a scalable, automated solution was undeniable. 

The Turning Point 

The airline approached Star Knowledge with a clear mandate: 
“Make our reconciliation process accurate, fast, and future-ready — no matter how many vendors or currencies we work with.” 

Our team knew this wasn’t just an automation project; it was an operations transformation mission. 

The Solution 

We designed and deployed a comprehensive Power Automate Desktop solution, enhanced with custom-built intelligence to tackle the airline’s unique requirements: 

1. ETL Pipelines – Automated data extraction from all vendor sources, transformation into a standardized format, and loading into structured Excel templates. 
   
   
2. Data Normalization – Custom Python scripts standardized formats, unified currencies, and eliminated discrepancies.
   
   
3. Cognitive Engine – A smart processing layer automatically converted currencies based on transaction dates and ensured accounting precision. 
   
   
4. Data Warehouse Integration – All cleaned and verified data flowed into a central repository for analytics and BI reporting. 
   
   
5. Periodic Execution – The automation ran on a set schedule, with an attended monthly reconciliation process ensuring complete accuracy. 
   
   

The Technology Behind the Transformation 

• Automation Tools: Power Automate Desktop, Microsoft Cognitive Services 

• Data Processing: Custom ETL pipelines, Python-based normalization scripts 

• Reporting & Analytics: Centralized data warehouse integration 
  
  

The Results 

The impact was immediate and measurable: 

• Efficiency: Manual reconciliation time dropped drastically, freeing teams for higher-value work. 

• Accuracy: Errors reduced to near zero, ensuring financial statements were audit-ready. 

• Scalability: The system effortlessly handled increasing data volumes without adding headcount. 

• Actionable Insights: Unified reporting provided finance leaders with real-time, trustworthy data. 
  
  

The Outcome 

In just a few months, the airline went from data overload to data clarity. What once required days of manual effort became a seamless, automated process — delivering accuracy, speed, and scalability. 

This project stands as a powerful example of how intelligent automation can simplify even the most complex global operations in the aviation sector.