Commitment phobia? Probably not.
But, Amadeus CEO Luis Maroto revealed today that there are no volume commitments in the recently signed Amadeus-Expedia partnership.
Expedia agreed to use Amadeus for global distribution services in North America, supplementing the Expedia-Sabre partnership, but Maroto indicated that any transaction volumes heading Amadeus's way from Expedia is entirely at Expedia's discretion.
"We have our own internal estimates but there is no agreed commitment from Expedia," Maroto said.
Some online travel agencies such as Expedia.com use multiple GDSs for diversity's sake.
Maroto's comments came during a conference call today with financial analysts about Amadeus's first quarter earnings.
Amadeus has been striving for years to increase its market share in North America, with the recent Expedia agreement and a Southwest Airlines pact providing some hope.
Tnooz reported more than a year ago that Amadeus was considering opening a data center in the US, and the agreements with Southwest and Expedia certainly won't get in the way of that possibility.
In response to a question about it today after the earnings call, an Amadeus spokesperson said:
This [Southwest] agreement doesn’t necessarily mean Amadeus will construct a US data center. We continuously review our operational infrastructure based on the needs of our customers. We will ensure robust operational performance for Southwest Airlines and all our US customers.
Note: Photo courtesy of Shutterstock