Some seven months after American Airlines and HP signed a letter of intent for HP to build a new passenger services system for American, an airline spokesman revealed the two parties have reached a formal agreement.
"Yes, the contract has been signed," spokesman Billy Sanez says. "We are not sharing details, but, as you know, contracts take time."
A spokeswoman for HP declined to comment.
AMR chairman and CEO Gerard Arpey created a bit of a stir Jan. 20 when he revealed that the two parties had yet to move beyond a letter of intent, which had been signed during the summer.
That fed speculation that perhaps the two companies were having difficulties coming to terms, or maybe the airline was having second thoughts and had decided it wasn't ready to commit to such a massive project.
After all, in 2009, Air Canada withdrew from longstanding plans to have ITA Software build the the carrier a new reservations system, dubbed Polaris.
American Airlines currently uses Sabre to host the airline's reservations system, and HP is tasked with the multiyear project to craft a new reservations system, called Jetstream, for American.
American Airlines is HP's first customer for Jetstream, which HP describes as a next-generation passenger services system.
Amadeus' Altea platform had been a contender for the American Airlines contract, but HP was the airline's final choice.
Amadeus revealed today that it signed a memorandum of understanding with Asiana Airlines.