The latest news from the GDS world, including new airline agreements, product news and initiatives.
6 November 2010:
- Travelport blasts inefficiencies of American Airlines direct connect [full story]
- Southwest ties into Travelport API for alive availability [full story]
1 November 2010:
29 October 2010:
- Travelport and ATPCO unite in multi-year technology services deal. The agreement sees ATPCO's Sales Data Exchange use the Fare Verified system from Travelport, a combination it says will guarantee airlines accurate and efficient sales information.
- Travelport in major reorganisation of commercial divisions [full story]
- Student Universe supplements Sabre with ITA Software for search [full story]
- Google-ITA Software deal: Who is missing from the FairSearch plot? [full story]
25 October 2010:
- Sabre Travel Network to provide GetThere system to government of Abu Dhabi. The product will be used to handle the government's corporate travel management programme including trip planning and staff profiling.
- Travelport signs global full content deal with Air Malawi. The "exclusive" deal sees full published inventory, including web fares, made available to all Worldspan and Galileo-connected agents.
20 October 2010:
- Travelport signs new, five-year distribution agreement with Stella Travel Services in the UK. The new deal covers online and offline travel agents for such brands as Travelbag, Travel2 and The Global Travel Group, connecting them to both Worldspan and Galileo.
18 October 2010:
- Amadeus launches Active Valuation, a revenue management tool for airlines that use business logic that the company says dynamically adjusts yield as it relates to the context in which a booking occurs. Launch partners include Lufthansa, Air Baltic, Singapore Airlines, TAM and Etihad.
- Amadeus finalizing decision to open data center in US [full story]
15 October 2010:
13 October 2010:
12 October 2010:
- Travelport cements new agreement with corporate travel company Directravel. The deal sees the existing 15-year relationship to give Directravel access to Travelport's Apollo platform for air, land and sea content.
7 October 2010:
- Travelport signs Royal Brunei, Royal Jordanian, Gulf Air and the LAN Group to its ViewTrip Online Check-In service. The system, which is now used by 20 airlines worldwide, allows airlines to check-in more passengers online as well as view flight and gate information, maps and driving directions.
- Philippines has a new country manager at Travelport. Genaro Velasquez joins the company after spending 31 years at Philippines Airlines, most recently as senior assistant vice president and country manager for airline's home country.
6 October 2010:
- Amadeus appoints Kenny Scullion as head of sales in the UK. Ex-business development director at Octopus Travel, Scullion replaces Rachel Castle who is on a one-year sabbatical and due to return to another department at Amadeus at the end of 2010.
5 October 2010:
4 October 2010:
- Frontier-Midwest reservations integration sticks with Sabre [full story]
1 October 2010:
- Technology and travel distribution in Europe by numbers [full story]
29 September 2010:
- Amadeus and Cathay Pacific sign new long-term distribution agreement. The deal includes both Cathay Pacific and Dragonair content and comes as Cathay also continues its migration to the Amadeus Altéa Customer Management System, due for completion in 2011.
28 September 2010:
22 September 2010:
- Amadeus sells Property Management Systems division to SoftBrands. PMS is a software supplier to the hospitality industry and has strong links to companies in EMEA and Asia-Pacific.
- Travelport signs distribution agreement with Irish agency 747 Travel. The deal extends a 15-year relationship and gives the agency access to Worldspan for rail, land and sea travel content.
- Amadeus and Disney Cruise Line agree on UK distribution deal. The partnership sees Disney content distributed to UK agencies in pounds and follows a similar agreement in June 2010 for the US and Canadian markets.
21 September 2010
- Air France and KLM migrated to the Amadeus Altéa Inventory solution. In so doing, the two airlines put in mothballs two legacy system they have used for the last four decades.
20 September 2010:
- GTA by Travelport reveals two key hires for Asia region. Ex-Singapore Airlines, Far East Organisation and Trade Winds executive Daryl Lee joins vice president for Asia, while GTA veteran Martin Jones becomes vice president of hotel contracting in Asia-Pacific.
16 September 2010:
15 September 2010:
- Travelport and Kenya Airways sign distribution agreement through Galileo and Worldspan. The five-year deal is full inventory of flights and fares, including web prices, and will be available to end-users on both GDS systems around the world.
14 September 2010:
- Sabre is rolling out new automated ticket exchange capabilities in its Sabre Red desktop. Automatic Exchanges, Sabre says, return the new ticket price, including taxes and fees, and save agents' time compared with previous manual processes.
13 September 2010:
- Travelport renews agreement with travel management company Allegro Group. The deal includes the implementation of a range of Travelport products such as Travesra, e-Pricing and Galileo Web Services.
9 September 2010:
7 September 2010:
- Country manager shake-up at Travelport in Europe. Travelport Germany boss, Jurgen Witte, will take on additional duties as the top official in Switzerland ahead of the departure of existing country manager Chris Dorner who is leaving at the end of 2010 for a role outside the business.
6 September 2010:
- Amadeus upgrades e-Travel Management system. The new edition (v13.2) features a revamped hotel shopping module and user interface including use of a mapping system provided by Microsoft's Bing.
- Opodo sale rumours resurface, again – CEO refuses to comment [full story]
2 September 2010:
- Philippines low cost carrier to unbundle fares with Sabre [full story]
- Travelport points finger at airlines over ancillary development [full story]
1 September 2010:
- Sabre sells Nexion subsidiary to travel management firm Tzell. Sabre bought Nexicon, a host agency for travel agents, in 2003. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
- Amadeus releases H1 2010 results [full story]
30 August 2010:
28 August 2010:
27 August 2010:
- Amadeus and SNCF pledge to improve rail ticket distribution. The pair are introducing a new system to agencies to allow to book French rail fares and Rail Europe tickets, using existing Amadeus Selling Platform and PNR technology.
- Travelport - the waiting game [full story]
24 August 2010:
- DerbySoft and Amadeus unite to give travel agents access to mid-range and independent hotels in China. More than 103,000 travel agencies in the Amadeus network will be able to source and book properties on the Shanghai-based DerbySoft system.
20 August 2010:
- Amadeus and Deutsche Bahn reveal Chinese agency plans. The pair have collaborated to open the German rail giant's first travel agency in China, using booking technology from Amadeus to sell DB tickets and other European rail providers.
19 August 2010:
- Travelport appoints new airline directors for Australia-New Zealand and South East Asia. Ex-Travelport director of sales for Australia, Ailsa Brown will be based in Sydney and takes responsibility for commercial opportunities and ancillary revenue as part of the new Universal Desktop programme. Chan Tze Yuan will have a similar role, based Singapore, covering Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines and Brunei.
18 August 2010:
- Amadeus and OAG agree to extend existing technology and intelligence partnership. The deal means the pair share technology and data for schedules, flight status, and end-to-end travel information and other selected services.
- Travelport appoints new country manager for Australia and New Zealand. Sean Cummins joins from AOT Group and previously held positions at Amadeus, Flairview and Constellation Hotel Group.
17 August 2010:
16 August 2010:
- Sabre Travel Network partners with Kanoo Travel in the Middle East. Kanoo, one of the latest travel agency groups in the Middle East, will use the Sabre GDS to supply content and other technology to agents in Iraq.
12 August 2010:
- Travelport plans a $250 million private offering of senior notes, which would be used to reduce debt and for business development, the company says.
- Cathay Pacific and Travelport ink five-year distribution deal. The standard agreement gives Apollo, Worldspan and Galileo-connected agents full access to the airline's content and fares.
9 August 2010
- Amadeus debuted its Amadeus One open technology platform at the National Business Travel Association conference in Houston today. Amadeus says the platform enables travel agency users of its Web-based desktop to use an "an open, service-oriented architecture" to integrate existing and new IT tools and service.
- Also at the NBTA gathering, Sabre presented its Sabre Red Business Intelligence product, which blends TRX'sTRAVELTRAX data reporting and consolidation features with historical data from Sabre's database.
6 August 2010
- Travelport's GTA unit appointed David Painter chief operating officer, effective immediately. Based in London and reporting to GTA President and CEO Ken Esterow, Painter will handle global hotel contracting and inbound operations, Travelport says.
5 August 2010
- TravelPort reported its second quarter 2010 earnings. In its GDS business, net revenue increased 1% to $520 million, compared to the year-earlier period, and EBITDA for the segment dropped 4% to $160 million. See the full results press release here, and a related story here.
4 August 2010:
- Travelport extended its content agreement with United Airlines through 2013 and says travel agents connected to its GDSs will be able to book the airline's Economy Plus seating later this year. Full story here.
- Amadeus North America bolsters commercial team with new VP Darrin Deck. Ex-TRX vice president of product operations, Deck joins as VP for sales and account management covering both the US and Canada, based in Chicago.
3 August 2010:
- Joint technology product from Travelport-Rearden Commerce secures Nippon Express as first customer. The technology is a Travelport-branded version of the Reasons Personal Assistant system, giving TMCs access to travel management tools as well as existing air, car hire and hotel services.
2 August 2010:
- Travelport signs multi-year agreement with Kuoni. The extended deal with Travelport covers 11 countries and gives the long haul tour operator access to a number of Galileo applications and ticketing systems.
- Amadeus integrates Hotel Shopper tool for Vacation Link users in North America. The service is boosted by partnering with CCRA Travel Solutions, giving agents access to over 160,000 hotel properties worldwide.
- Travelport agrees air fare distribution partnership with Proflight Zambia. Full ticket and distribution content from the carrier will be available for five years for Galileo-connected agents.
30 July 2010:
- Russian travel agency chain Sputnik signs agreement with Travelport for GDS services. The deal was sealed through Travelport's Russian travel partner and online flight search provider AlpOnline and sees Sputnik agencies gain access to low-cost carrier and scheduled fares.
28 July 2010:
- Travelport renews long-term relationship with Cassidy Travel. The Ireland-based travel agency group will extend its 17-year agreement with Travelport to use the Worldspan GDS platform for air, hotel and car hire products.
27 July 2010:
- Standard message: Sabre, Amadeus, Travelport step in line over Open Axis [full story]
- Sabre claims huge jump in revenue for Mamaison after technology switch. The chain apparently saw a 100% leap after switching ten properties across Central and Eastern Europe as a result of changing to the SynXis CRS by Sabre Hospitality Solutions.
23 July 2010:
- GetThere agrees seat sale strategy with United Airlines. The Sabre-run GetThere will handle United's Economy Plus range from later this year, a decision Sabre claims is a first for any travel management system.
22 July 2010:
- Amadeus and Premier Inn sign global distribution deal. The agreement sees 580 of the budget hotel chain's properties made available through the Amadeus GDS across its worldwide network of agencies.
- Study: Winners in airline ancillary revenue [full story]
21 July 2010:
20 July 2010:
- Amadeus partners with Airconomy to launch market intelligence service. The pair have created a product, Amadeus Total Demand by Airconomy, to provide market data for airlines, airports and travel agencies on routes around the world, including distribution from low-cost carriers and via direct sales.
19 July 2010:
- Travelport announces investment in Bahrain. The company has taken over distribution of its Galileo platform following end of agreement with Middle East Computer Services (part of Al Safar Group) and will service existing clients from new operation in Manama.
15 July 2010:
- Avis Budget Group and Travelport sign multi-year distribution agreement. The deal hands agents on the Galileo and Worldspan platform full access to ABG's operations in over 70 different countries around the world.
- Travelport gushing over strong start to Leisure agent portal [full story]
13 July 2010:
- Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts renews distribution agreement with Sabre. The chain of 66 Shangri-La properties around the world will continue to use Sabre's SynXis Central Reservation System, part of Sabre Hospitality Solutions, claiming a 35% increase in GDS revenue year-on-year.
10 July 2010:
9 July 2010:
8 July 2010:
- Sabre acquires flight crew management system [full story]
- Travelport unveils major airfare partnership for Russia [full story]
6 July 2010:
- Travelport appoints new country manager for Spain. Antonio Loureiro comes with 18 years experience in the GDS sector and will also cover Travelport's interrests in Portugal and Brazil.
- Amadeus to trial new ancillary services platform through CorsairFly [full story]
- Sabre Travel Network signs Hogg Robinson Group to TripCase mobile programme. HRG will give clients access to a dedicated TripCase travel itinerary platform allowing them to manage travel plans and communicate directly with agents.
5 July 2010:
- Travelport named as preferred GDS partner for TTA Worldchoice. The agreement is an extension of a nine-year relationship with Worldchoice and now includes the agency members of the Travel Trust Association.
- Amadeus bolsters Ireland and Scotland teams. Siobhan Bocket joins as commercial manager after 11 years with American Holidays in Northern Ireland.
3 July 2010:
- Amadeus signs three-year partnership with Kanoo Travel. The three-year partnership with Kanoo, a major corporate travel agency in the Middle East, includes use of the Amadeus E-Travel Management software to process bookings and fares.
1 July 2010:
- Senior executive appointments at Sabre Airlines Solutions. Ex-McKinsey consultant Sanjay Nanda joins as senior vice president of consulting and solutions delivery; Sabre veteran Mark Silagy moves to SAS team to become senior vice president of customer care and support; Peter Morowski (ex-Borland, Dell and Novell) becomes senior vice president of airline products development.
30 June 2010:
- Sabre inks technology deal with Avior Airlines. The airline will be the first airline to use the Electronic Miscellaneous Document element of the wider Sabre merchandising platform [full story]
25 June 2010:
- Travelport IPO resurrection gaining momentum, New York replaces London [full story]
- Web agency accidently posts Travelport agency project screenshots on Facebook [full story]
22 June 2010:
21 June 2010:
- Zonder and Travelport ink GDS distribution deal for vacation rentals. The deal will see the Worldspan GDS take real-time availability and booking for the Zonder portfolio of properties to agent desktops.
17 June 2010:
- Amadeus creates two vice president positions for EMEA. Angel Gallego and Holger Taubmann will be VPs for Western Europe, Middle East and Africa and Northern, Central and Eastern Europe respectively.
10 June 2010:
- Marriott and Travelport sign long-term agreement. The five-year deal sees the hotel chain implement a direct-connect to the Worldpsan and Galileo GDSs, allowing booking for all Travelport connected agents to 3,400 properties around the world.
9 June 2010:
- Webjet builds new e-pricing product in conjunction with Travelport. The system, created with Travelport Galileo, is designed to give Webjet's Australian customers the ability to book cheaper international flights where they do not mind an extra stopover.
8 June 2010:
- LAN Airlines signs distribution agreement with Travelport. The deal, which begins immediately, will see all LAN content streamed through the Worldspan and Galileo GDS to connected agents.
5 June 2010:
- Travelport introduces FlexiShopper tool for Taiwan and Hong Kong agents. The FlexiShopper system plugs into the existing Galileo desktop and is meant to improve the process for how agents search for flights.
3 June 2010:
- Amadeus tech survey of Irish travel agents: 80% of business agents spend majority of the day modifying bookings and processing sales; 90% of leisure agents spend "some time" or "too much time" researching new bookings.
- Rearden Commerce and Travelport sign technology agreement for the US and Canada. The partnership will see the Rearden platform added to the suite of corporate bookings tools, including Traversa.
31 May 2010:
- Travelport shuffles GDS executive line-up in Japan and Korea. Ex-Worldspan business development manager in the Pacific, Hiroshi Shimizu becomes commercial head in Japan, South Korea and Guam. He will also oversee airline, hotel, rail and car hire relationships for Travelport GDS in the same countries and Fiji.
26 May 2010:
- Travelport and Statesman Travel sign technology and distribution agreement. The London-based travel management company (sales of $1.3 billion a year) will continue to use the Galileo GDS and also plans to implement the Travelport Universal Desktop later this year.
20 May 2010:
- Touchdown Holidays and Sabre Holdings seal long-term technology pact. The UK-based travel provider for industry employees will primarily use Sabre's Web Services technology to improve its online proposition.
19 May 2010:
- Sabre Holdings signs agreement with Travellers Choice. The Australia-based company will partner with the Pacific division of Sabre on a long term agreement to supply content across its network of agents.
18 May 2010:
- Travelport plots intriguing move, buys travel search engine Sprice (full story)
13 May 2010:
14 May 2010:
- Public company Amadeus, with Opodo in hand, is back reporting quarterly results [full story]
- Amadeus Q1 2010 results – bitesize summary [full story]
12 May 2010:
7 May 2010:
- Amadeus appoints new commercial director. Based in Crawley, UK, Scott Davies joins from British Airways where he has spent the last ten years in a number of positions across agency and corporate divisions.
- Sabre and Carlson Hotels sign booking technology agreement. The hotel chain will be a "beta customer" for the Sabre Hospitality Solutions' Direct Comment XML platform, plugging into 55,000 travel agent locations worldwide.
6 May 2010:
- Middle East airline Emirates and Travelport sign distribution deal. The content agreement covers Galileo, Worldspan and Apollo and runs for five years.
5 May 2010:
- Travelport announces the promotion of Kurt Ekert to chief commercial officer. Ekert, who takes over on June 1, is currently chief operating officer for GTA by Travelport and succeeds Armin Meier who is leaving after two years to pursue "a new business venture outside the travel industry".
4 May 2010:
- Amadeus claims record figures for its Altea Suite system. In 2009 the data centre processed 238 million passengers, a jump of 23% y/y.
- Travelport's GTA division signs distribution deal with Marriott International. The partnership covers the Marriott, Renaissance, Courtyard, Residence Inn, Fairfield Inn, TownePlaces and Springhill brands and will be available to all GTA agent and operator customers.
28 April 2010:
- Travelport announces Michael Buhr as chief executive for Consumer and New Ventures. Buhr was most recently entrepreneur-in-residence at venture capital firm Shasta Ventures, adivising companies in the areas of consumer internet, online discovery and mobile.
- Amadeus sets IPO price at Euro 11 per share, gears up for The Big Day [full story]
27 April 2010:
- Hotel H2o signs software deal with Amadeus. The new luxury hotel in the Philippine capital of Manila, part of the WorldHotels collection, will use the property management IT system from Amadeus.
26 April 2010:
- Sabre and Aeroflot extend existing reservation handling agreement. The airline will also use the SabreSonic Web system to handle online bookings.
20 April 2010:
- Sabre pushes Traveller Security and Data Suite into Asia Pacific region. The move coincides with recent events in Europe as travel firms tracked and reptriated customers following the European ash cloud crisis.
19 April 2010:
- Travelport releases upgraded version of CrossCheck Travel Enterprise (CCTE). The system is used by travel agents in Australia and New Zealand and provides mid/back office tools from accounting and financial reporting through to itineraries, bookings and customer relationship management (CRM).
15 April 2010:
- Travelport signs distribution deals for Azerbaijan and Georgia. The Galileo and Worldspan platforms will be available through an agreement with Galileo Caucasus.
14 April 2010:
13 April 2010:
- Travelport travel review service launches in the Middle East. The roll-out of Travelport Opinions, a system for travel agents and tour operators to share holiday and property reviews and developed by Vinivi, follows launches first in France and then the UK & Ireland.
9 April 2010:
- TransHotel and Amadeus unite to create Hotel Store for Indian travel agencies. The portal will reside in the existing Amadeus Selling Platform and give agents access to the Transhotel portfolio. Data will be automatically included in CheckMyTrip.
8 April 2010:
- Amadeus claims increase in market share in Asia-Pacific to 33% of air bookings. 2009 report also says the company achieved 45% share in Africa and the Middle East.
7 April 2010:
6 April 2010:
3 April 2010:
1 April 2010:
- Travelport and ATPI sign extension to content distribution agreement. The travel management company serves customers in 13 countries in Europe and the US and the deal will include technology to recent ATPI acquisition marine travel specialist Instone International.
31 March 2010:
- Travelport and Copa Airlines sign new global content distribution deal. The Latin American airline will push all fares and availability through the Worldspan and Galileo systems to connected agents.
3o March 2010:
- Sabre Holdings agrees to buy Icelandic revenue management firm Calidris. The company will become part of the Sabre Airline Solutions division and be made available immediately to 300 airlines on the Sabre system.
- Travelport signs partnership with Global Travel Services to distribute GDS services to travel agencies in Uzbekistan. The agreement is an extension of an existing deal to run GDS services through GTS in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
29 March 2010:
- Travelport launches new Galileo desktop for Hong Kong agents. The Desktop 2.0 Enhanced Customer Service tool is bi-lingual (Chinese and English) uses a drop-box system to collate data before sending to a central customer unit. The service will be rolled out across Asia later.
25 March 2010:
24 March 2010:
- WestJet to sell seat assignments through Travelport [full story]
- Amadeus launches online booking engine for Myanmar Airways. The system uses the Amadeus e-Retail, Web e-Ticketing and Payment Gateway product and is aimed at opening up the airline's domestic and international routes to a wider audience.
23 March 2010:
- Travelport and the first low-cost carrier outside of South Africa, Fly540, sign content distribution deal. Fares and schedules will be available on both the Worldspan and Galileo platforms.
- Amadeus announces 2009 full-year results [top-line summary]
- Air India partners with Sabre to integrate airline optimisation technology. The carrier will be equipped with Sabre AirVision and Sabre AirCentre suites allowing it to move towards a fully integrated flight control system.
19 March 2010:
- Trailfinders and Travelport agree multi-year deal for the Galileo system. The agreement is an extension of its existing relationship.
- Amadeus and TellMeMore sign agreement to handle the company's Corporate Social Responsibility programme. The agreement, which aims to promote joint projects to contribute to the economic and social development of disadvantaged areas and social segments, is aimed in particular at enhancing capabilities and competitiveness in tourism in Latin America, Africa and Asia-Pacific.
18 March 2010:
- CCRA Travel Solutions selected by Amadeus to power hotel content on the Amadeus Vacation Link brand. Vacation Link is a booking portal for leisure travel agents in the US and Canada to book vacation travel products.
17 March 2010:
16 March 2010:
- Amadeus hires Scott Alvis as new senior vice president for its airline division in the Americas. Alvis previously ran his own airline distribution consultancy business and had worked for Sabre including heading the company's SynXis programme.
- Ness Technologies and Amadeus complete first year of partnership with news of 150 people joining the programme. Software support firm Ness works with the R&D wing of Amadeus on ecommerce projects such as its CheckMyTrip tool.
15 March 2010:
- Middle East airline Etihad and Travelport sign full content agreement. The five-year deal gives Worldspan and Galileo-connected agents access to all of the airline's published inventory of flights and fares.
14 March 2010:
- Travel agents in United Arab Emirates handed SMS capability through Amadeus. Travel agents able to alert travellers with details about itineraries, e-tickets and flight information.
12 March 2010:
- Shearings Holidays and Amadeus sign GDS content distribution package. The three-year agreement will give Shearings worldwide access to fares, schedules and inventories across the Amadeus system.
10 March 2010:
- Amadeus launches LinkHotel, a distribution service for small to medium size hotels and groups. LinkHotel also provides reservation tools, marketing services, and commission handling.
- Amadeus division Traveltainment acquires online marketing company Pixell. The Bonn, Germany-based company handles advertising for clients through SEO, SEM, display marketing, direct marketing and affiliate marketing as well as Twitter, social networks or mobile devices.
- Travelport unveils Opinions review system in the UK and Ireland. The service, which had a successful launch in France in mid-2009, allows agents to review hotel properties and ask questions of other experts on the system.
9 March 2010:
- Net Trans and Travelport ink deal to provide hotel commission recovery to Travelport agents around the world. The Net Trans system allows agents to see how much commission has been paid or owed by a supplier as well as managing processes between the two.
8 March 2010:
- Best Western International signs enhanced contract with GTA by Travelport to boost distribution of the chain's property descriptions
- LOT Polish Airlines and Amadeus agree extension to technology partnership to extend to the Star Alliance Common IT platform inventory system. The new agreement will complete in in the second half of 2010 and also see an upgrade to its customer management system and use of the wider Star Alliance platform.
- Sabre reveals programme with data management firm iWay Software. The Airline Solutions division of Sabre has worked with iWay to audit and analyse the Airport Data Intelligence programme, a system which tracks capacity and other details of every flight in the world.
6 March 2010:
- Bangkok Airways and Amadeus unite for travel agency promotion. Agents booking tickets on the airline through the Amadeus GDS are also entered in a prize draw. Both organisations claim an immediate increase in bookings following the launch - the promotion runs until 31 May 2010.
5 March 2010:
- Agencia Abreu seals multi-year deal with Travelport to use the Galileo GDS system. The Portuguese travel agency, one of the largest in the country and in existence since 1840, has 120 offices around the country and also a sizeable presence in the US and Brazil.
4 March 2010:
- Amadeus signs agreement to evaluate use of the Altea Customer Management System with Asiana Airlines. The Memo of Understanding will explore for future use of the Altea system for reservation, inventory and departure control processes across the Asiana network.