This is a roundup of product news and announcements for travel DISTRIBUTION in tourism and hospitality for February 2014...
Thursday 27 February 2014:
Transaero Airlines signs agreement with Abacus
- Transaero, Russia’s second largest carrier, has signed a two-year distribution agreement with Abacus. The agreement enables Abacus travel agents at over 20,000 locations with full access to fares, schedules and seat inventory on all routes within Transaero’s network.
RezNext partners with
Goibibo- The partnership will enable goibibo to display real-time hotel rates and inventory on its site, hotels can distribute different room types and rates from the hotel’s PMS to goibibo.
Wednesday 26 February 2014:Travelport signs content agreement with Middle East Airlines
- The renewal of the full content agreement with the Lebanon-based carrier puts fares and schedules in the hands of Travelport-connected agents around the world. Travelport also has a distributor agreement with local company Gate 7 to re-sell technology to agents in the region.
Friday 21 February 2014:Sabre signs distribution agreement with All Nippon Airways
- The multi-year agreement will see the Japanese carrier's fares, schedules and inventory made available to all Sabre-connected agencies around the world. ANA has existing agreement Sabre sister GDS in the region, Abacus.
Travelport agrees content deal with
Silvercar- The US-focused car rental service, which uses only Audi A4 vehicles, operates in Austin, Dallas, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Worldspan-connected agents in the US on the Travelport network will be able to secure vehicles (which are picked up by passengers using a QR code to activate the car) for customers as part of the multi-year agreement.
Wednesday 19 February 2014:Amadeus extends AerTicket partnership
- The new agreement means the airfare wholesaler will work with Amadeus across all its subsidiaries around the world. It currently supplies tickets from around 170 airlines to agencies, operators and web brands. The company says it has plans to bolster its international presence beyond the existing presence in 20 countries.
Abacus partners with
Tigerair- Abacus is integrating Tigerair fares and ancillary products into its system. Signed in January 2014, the integration makes the full range of competitive fares of the Tigerair Group of airlines including Tigerair Singapore and Tigerair Mandala available at over 20,000 Abacus agency locations in 31 regional feeder markets. In November 2013, the airline partnered with Travelport.
Monday 17 February 2014:Travelport renews Atrapalo distribution and technology partnership
- The online travel agency will continue to take the Galileo GDS for content distribution, extending an existing ten-year agreement. It will also continue to use the Galileo Web Services platform and says it will introduce the Rapid Reprice eticketing tool. The company plans to target further growth in Latin America alongside its existing presence in South America.
Friday 14 February 2014:Travelport and British Airways (with Iberia) finally agree content deal
- The partnership between BA-Iberia mothership IAG (International Airlines Group) and Travelport ends months of negotiations and a period of no formal agreement in place. The new deal will see Travelport-connected agents given access to fares and inventory from both carriers (and Iberia Express). The carriers will also trial Travelport's Rich Content & Branding system, which is part of its wider merchandising platform.
Thursday 13 February 2014:dnata acquires Gold Medal Travel group
- Middle East-based dnata has acquired UK-based Gold Medal Travel Group from Thomas Cook Group. Gold Medal Travel is a distributor of scheduled long-haul products, and it handles more than 275,000 travel bookings a year. It will continue as the exclusive provider of scheduled air travel and car rental products to Thomas Cook UK.
Wednesday 12 February 2014:Orbitz signs with all three GDSs for distribution
- Ahead of a relaxation of existing exclusivity agreements with Travelport by the beginning of 2015, Orbitz will take content also from Amadeus and Sabre. Travelport handles the bulk of the OTA's transactions, but the new trio of partnerships will allow it "deploy the right technology for the right situation, whether a desktop or mobile offering, air vs car or Orbitz Worldwide-branded sites vs private label partnerships".
Tourico Holidays expands wholesale portfolio
- The US-based hotel distributor has added 300 new clients to its portfolio. The additions include Sunwing Airlines, FlyDubai and the El Corte Ingles department chain in Europe. The total number of customers has now reached 4,600.
Tuesday 11 February 2014:Genares selects Sabre for hotel distribution
- The hotel reservation system provider will use Sabre so its portfolio of hotel customers can push their inventory and availability to connected agents.
Travelport extends distribution and technology agreement with
Senturia- The Ukraine-based online travel agency will continue to use content from the Travelport GDS, as part of the partnership, but will also integrate the e-Pricing and API technology to improve information and functionality on its websites. The company has services targeting its home market as well as consumers in Russian and Cyprus.
Friday 7 February 2014:Travelport agents in US to sell United Economy Plus seats
- Travelport is the first GDS to link Economy Plus seating back into their travel agent workflow. "Travelport-connected agents in the US now have the ability to access Economy Plus seat availability and prices within the agent workflow, as well as book complimentary Economy Plus seats for qualified MileagePlus customers and their companion."
Wednesday 5 February 2014:Travelport renews distribution deal with EasyJet
- The low cost carrier will continue to be available to Galileo-connected agents, but will also be distribution on Worldspan and Apollo systems from later this year. As well as being Travelport's marquee signing for its merchandising platform, EasyJet will also now feature on the Rich Content and Branding element of the same service.
Monday 3 February 2014:Ryanair expects GDS connection(s) by mid-2014
- The low cost carrier confirms in its latest financial results that "active negotiations with a number of GDS suppliers" are taking place (as revealed here). At least distribution agreement will be signed and availability through third parties by the the middle of the year, "subject to the successful conclusion of these discussions and IT integration issues".
Sunday 2 February 2014:Travelport and Air Canada extend content distribution agreement
- The multi-year partnership gives Worldspan, Galileo and Apollo-connected agents access to the carrier's so-called "a la carte" fares, schedules and ticketing. Content will continue to feed the Agencia platform, an desktop service for agents in Canada carrying the airline's direct-connect system known as AC2U.
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NB2: Travel distribution image via Shutterstock.