Disappointment at IATA towers today - the airline group has been knocked back by a District Court in the US in its attempt to have court papers published from the American Airlines-Sabre case.
IATA filed a motion in January this year, alongside co-signatory A4A (Air Transport Association of America), to the 67th Judicial District in Texas, claiming documents sealed since the end of the case between the carrier and the GDS in October 2012 would reveal evidence of "anti-competitive business practices".
An IATA official says the organisation is "disappointed; we’ve lost an opportunity for transparency".
"The public would have benefited from a fuller understanding of the anti-competitive and anti-consumer practices in which Sabre is alleged to have engaged."
The original motion accused Sabre of taking "significant steps to prohibit the public's access" to the documents, contrary to Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 76A which allows all court records to be "open to the general public absent specific, serious and substantial interests which clearly outweigh the presumption of openness".
The official adds:
"It is ironic that the company that claims to be for full consumer transparency worked so hard to keep these records from the public."
Two specific tranches of documents (Exhibits A and B) were said to contain the evidence which IATA was eager to have available for further scrutiny.
The case has been surrounded in secrecy ever since American Airlines and Sabre settled their differences, with only a short joint statement issued about negotiations over "additional technology services in the future" and the renewal of their distribution agreement.
But IATA accused Sabre of having a corporate message around supporting regulation for consumer choice and protection, but said in its motion that a public view of the documents, in which IATA believed American Airlines accused Sabre of anti-competitive practices, "will likely show that Sabre has only its market position - not consumers' interests - in mind when supporting such regulations".
It is unclear as yet whether this is the end of the saga or if IATA will appeal against the ruling today.
Sabre declined to comment.
NB:Keys image via Shutterstock.