Ambiguous Virgin Australia (VA) records in optd_airlines.csv about opentraveldata

[da115115]

Thanks Nishaj for spotting this.
Indeed, last week, @aseredyn mentioned Virgin Australia as a tricky example.

Currently, in the optd_airlines.csv file, we have 3 active records related to Virgin, all of them sharing the VA IATA code:

• V Australia / Virgin Australia International, VA/VAU, primary key: air-virgin-australia-int-v1, having debuted operations in 2009-02-27
• Virgin Australia Regional, VA/VOZ, primary key: air-virgin-australia-regional-v1, having debuted operations in 1963-01-01
• Virgin Australia, also VA/VOZ, primary key: air-virgin-australia-v1, having debuted operations in 2000-08-31

So, I would suggest that we merge the three records into a single record, for instance Virgin Australia, primary key: air-virgin-australia-v1

Note also the comment related to the IATA codes on the Virgin Australia Wiki page: "From their foundation until January 2013, Virgin Blue/Virgin Australia and Pacific Blue used the IATA code 'DJ'. From its foundation Virgin Australia International Airlines (formerly known as V Australia) operated under a different IATA code, 'VA'. Use of the two codes continued from the May 2011 company reorganisation and rebranding until January 2013, with the long-haul flights operated by the Boeing 777 fleet using the 'VA' code. In January 2013 use of the IATA code 'DJ' was discontinued and all flights now use the code 'VA'"

Also, I intend to add a new field, in optd_airline_best_known_so_far.csv, namely parent_pk_list, so as to allow to derive the graph of merges and forks among airlines. The successor_pk_list field would derived from parent_pk_list and added to the optd_airlines.csv file. In our case, we would get something like:

• pk^env_id^validity_from^validity_to^3char_code^2char_code^num_code^name^name2^alliance_code^alliance_status^type^wiki_link^flt_freq^alt_names^bases^key^version^parent_pk_list^successor_pk_list
• air-virgin-australia-int-v1^1^2009-02-27^2011-12-07^VAU^VA^795^Virgin Australia International^^^^^http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_Australia^^en|Virgin Australia International|=en|V Australia|^^air-virgin-australia-int^1^^air-virgin-australia-v1
• air-virgin-australia-regional-v1^1^1963-01-01^2000-08-30^VOZ^DJ^608^Virgin Australia Regional^^^^^http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Australia_Regional_Airlines^^en|Virgin Australia Regional|=en|SkyWest|^^air-virgin-australia-regional^1^^air-virgin-australia-v1
• air-virgin-australia-v1^1^2000-08-31^2012-12-31^VOZ^DJ^856^Virgin Australia^Virgin Blue^^^^http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Australia^^en|Virgin Australia|=en|Virgin Blue|h=en|Pacific Blue|h=en|Virgin Australia Regional|h=en|SkyWest|h^^air-virgin-australia^1^air-virgin-australia-int-v1=air-virgin-australia-regional-v1^
• air-virgin-australia-v1^^2013-01-01^^VOZ^VA^856^Virgin Australia^^^^^http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Australia^15229^en|Virgin Australia|=en|Virgin Blue|h=en|Pacific Blue|h=en|Virgin Australia Regional|h=en|SkyWest|h^^air-virgin-australia^1^air-virgin-australia-int-v1=air-virgin-australia-regional-v1^

Would you be fine with that proposition?

Kind regards

Denis

[nishaj]

Hi Denis,

merging 3 records into 1 in optd_airlines.csv will solve our current issue.

Thanks and regards,

@nishaj

[nishaj]

Hello Deni,

A few more airlines with IATA code duplication issues have been identified. A major one, apart from VA, is AP (Air One and AlbaStar), Following is the information we get from the optd_airlines.csv file. From 31-07-2010 till 30-10-2014 both the records are valid and both the base airports fall in Europe:

• air-air-one-v1^1^1983-01-01^2014-10-30^ADH^AP^867^Air One^^^^^http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_One^^en|Air One|p=en|Aliadriatica|h^FCO^air-air-one^1
• air-albastar-spain-v1^^2010-07-31^^LAV^AP^374^AlbaStar^^^^^http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AlbaStar^^en|AlbaStar|^PMI^air-albastar-spain^1

Airlines with minor impact are 3G, 9I. We have to analyze more, If we have more airlines.

Can you please correct AP, along with the VA?

Thanks and regards,

@nishaj