The latest distribution news, launches and more from around the travel, tourism and hospitality industry in August 2013.
Thursday 29 August 2013:- Travelport signs distribution pact with Khors Air in Ukraine. The airline, which runs exclusively on routes to and from Greece, will make its published fares available to all Travelport GDS-connected agencies. Khors launched in 1990 and operates out of Kiev, Odessa and Lvov.
- Spanish rail operator Renfe places tickets into SilverRail system. SilverRail's SilverCore service will feature fares and availability for services throughout the Spanish rail firm's entire network. SilverRail has agreements with the likes of KDS and Ebookers at the customer end of the distribution chain.
- HotelsCombined partners with Tiket.com, an Indonesian travel reservation centre. The metasearch site adds 1,500 properties to its 400,000 hotel inventory, while Tiket.com increases its inbound business.
Wednesday 28 August 2013:- Travelport renews local distribution agreements for Worldspan and Galileo in Lebanon. Gate 7 will continue to represent Worldspan and Travelport-Lebanon oversee Galileo, as well as both distributing other Travelport products and services to agencies in the country.
Friday 23 August 2013:- Sabre puts ExpertFlyer Seat Alerts app into Red Workspace. The service gives travel management companies the chance to find out when the best seat becomes available for a flight through an alert system integrated within the existing agent workflow platform.
- Travelport seals distribution deal with The Appointment Group. The long-term agreement with the Australian division of the travel and event management company puts it alongside existing contracts with Travelport in the US and the UK. Australian agents at the company will be migrated to Galileo for full access to air, hotel and car rental product.
Thursday 22 August 2013:- Travelport establishes new divisions in Belgium and Iraq. The Travelport Benelux helpdesk will be relocated to the local corporate offices in Brussels in partnership with Stefanini IT Solutions and a new office will be opened in the Iraqi city of Erbil as part of a wider expansion plan in the Middle East.
Tuesday 20 August 2013:- Travelport and Finnair tie up new content distribution deal. The multi-year, full content alliance gives Travelport-connected agents around access to the carrier's fares and availability, covering its entire network. The airline is attempting to position itself as the leading player for passengers looking to travel between Asia and the Nordics.
Friday 16 August 2013:- GTA and eRevMax have established a two-way XML connection for rate, inventory and reservation distribution. Now, hotel reservations made in GTA's booking system can be directly accessed in hotels PMS. With this integration, now eRevMax becomes the first channel manager to establish a two-way connectivity with GTA.
Wednesday 14 August 2013:- Amadeus signs agreement with Al Masria Universal Airlines. The agreement gives Amadeus-connected agents the ability to search and book tickets on the carrier's routes between Egypt and the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, as well as Italy. The airline launched operations in 2009.
- Hyatt Hotels and Resorts has selected RateGain's channel management solution RezGain to mange distribution of its hotels across thousands of channels - regional and global OTAs, social media.
Monday 12 August 2013:
- The Lido Group, Australia and New Zealand's accommodation aggregator and Amadeus has entered into a partnership that will make available Lido’s Australian Accommodation Data Exchange (AADX) regional accommodation content to Amadeus travel agents. Amadeus travel agents will be able to access new hotel content through all Amadeus powered channels – travel agency websites, corporate booking tools and Amadeus Selling Platform under the ‘AA’ chain code.
- Flavour Travel Group, New Zealand-based travel agency group has selected Amadeus to power its 20 Mondo Travel stores across eight regions in New Zealand. Amadeus will offer following services to Mondo travel agencies: Amadeus Selling Platform - front office application for travel professionals; Amadeus Offers - manage pre-booking activities, quote handling and alternative arrangement offering for flights and hotels; Amadeus Printmytrip - customise printable travel itineraries, promote agency brand and up-sell services in a professional travel document.
Thursday 8 August 2013:- India-based OTA Yatra.com and hotel portal TravelGuru.com are now powered with eRevMax distribution solution. Now, hotel customers of both these portals will be able to access real-time room availability and receive bookings directly in hotel's PMS. Yatra and TravelGuru are also connected to RezNext, another distribution solution provider.
Wednesday 7 August 2013:- Vietnam-based Luxury Travel Ltd. has launched a B2B travel portal by name www.luxurytravels.asia. The site is targeted towards premium travel professionals and travel agents for selling tourism products in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand.
Tuesday 6 August 2013:- Yapta extends agreement with Travelport's Apollo for airfare tracking services. The system will be made available to corporate customers through the Apollo GDS platform, following a similar agreement with Sabre. One of the first agencies to use the Intelligent Price Tracking service known as FareIQ will be Omega World Travel. Yapta's original agreement was signed in September 2012.
Thursday 1 August 2013:- Yakutia signs debut GDS agreement with Travelport. The Russian airline, which was created in 2002 and operated its first flight in early-2003, will make its published fares available for the first time to the agency world via Travelport-connected customers. The carrier operates both domestic and international routes to 80 destinations and has bases in Moscow, Yakutsk and Krasnodar.
Previous roundups:NB:Global technology image via Shutterstock.