GDS news: Travelport, Amadeus, Sabre, Abacus - July 2011

Product news, releases, projects and more from the global distribution systems during July 2011 - all here, in one easy read.

Most recent updates first...

Thursday 28 July 2011:

• Travelport and Amadeus GDSs to get Frontier Airlines Stretch seats
• American Airlines: Sabre increased GDS booking fees again

Friday 22 July 2011:

• Travelport payment joint venture eNett signs a deal with Dutch online travel agency Vliegtickets. The agreement will see Vliegticket adopt eNett's virtual card technology vNett. The Dutch OTA will be one of the first European clients to use the vNett system, a Mastercard-based platform which issues a virtual account number for each transaction between client and its suppliers.

Wednesday 20 July 2011:

• GDS veteran Bob Coggin retires from Travelport in August this year. Coggin is currently vice chairman of Travelport GDS, having joined forerunner Cendant in 2002 after a 42-year career with Delta. He has held a number of roles including vice chairman of Travelport's Airline Services division as well as vice chairman of Galileo.
• Google entering travel could be nothing to worry about after all
• Anti-Google Travel group FairSearch expands to launch Searchville

Monday 18 July 2011:

• Amadeus signs distribution deal with low cost carrier AirBerlin. The deal is a renewal of an existing agreement between the pair to distribute AirBerlin's fares, schedules and availability through Amadeus-connected agencies around the world. Amadeus says the agreement includes a guarantee that all content will the same as through any direct channel or other website.

Saturday 16 July 2011:

• Sabre: American Airlines antitrust suit is negotiating ploy
• European Commission begins review of GDS Code, realpolitik expected
• Amadeus expands hotel choices with prepaid vouchers

Wednesday 13 July 2011:

• Sabre Travel Network starts operating in South Africa. Based in Gauteng, Sabre will partner with EmQuest and Rogers Aviation, the latter being its main distributor for the market. The Sabre Red agent platform will also debut its new "graphical view" in the country.
• Sabre signs multi-year agreement with South African Airways. The new deal is an extension of a 20-year-old partnership between the pair, giving agencies access to the airline's full range of fares, schedules and availability.
• Travelport signs technology agreement with Worldstrides. The student travel company will use Travelport's XMP Pro web services package as well as tap into the GDS through the Worldspan platform.
• FCm Travel Solutions migrates Dubai operations to Travelport's Galileo GDS. The move is part of FCm parent company Flight Centre's worldwide agreement with Travelport. The switch took place over a 15-day period.

Friday 8 July 2011:

• eNett eyes huge growth as electronic payment market shifts
• Priceline: Ticketing milestone with American Airlines direct connect
• Lufthansa tests Amadeus Affinity Shopper on Russia site
• The $700M question: How will Google take travel search global?

Wednesday 6 July 2011:

• FlyDubai and Sabre Travel Network sign multi-year distribution agreement. The carrier will be available on the Sabre network of travel agencies around the world - while an additional part of the agreement will see FlyDubai use flight scheduling technology provided by Sabre Airline Solutions.
• Travelport named as preferred supplier for one of Saudi Arabia's largest travel and tourism groups, Al Tayyar Travel. Galileo will provide booking systems and other technology to the company's 330 retail branches in Saudi Arabia and affiliate offices in Kuwait, Yemen, Canada and the US.
• Making the case for embracing HTML5 in travel
• Sabre and Amadeus close MoneyDirect payment system
• Opodo-eDreams-GoVoyages lauded as new European agency powerhouse

Previous GDS updates:

• Travelport, Amadeus, Sabre, Abacus briefs - June 2011
• Travelport, Amadeus, Sabre, Abacus briefs - May 2011
• Travelport, Amadeus, Sabre, Abacus briefs - April 2011
• Travelport, Amadeus, Sabre, Abacus briefs - March 2011
• Travelport, Amadeus, Sabre, Abacus briefs - February 2011
• Travelport, Amadeus, Sabre, Abacus briefs - January 2011
• Travelport, Amadeus, Sabre, Abacus briefs - December 2010
• GDS Bitesize - January 2010 to November 2010