Travelport, Amadeus, Sabre, Abacus briefs - May 2011

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

Most recent updates first...

Monday 30 May 2011:

Spirit Airlines, after IPO, has few worries about distribution costs [full story]
eNett brings virtual payment technology to Skytours [full story]
Why is the travel industry so unfriendly to startups? [full story]
Not friends, but American Airlines wants Sabre status update [full story]
Travelport comes down hard on American Airlines over antitrust case [full story]

Tuesday 24 May 2011:

Amadeus names new director of finance in the UK. Nick Moser, an Amadeus veteran in Australia between 1998 and 2008, joins from Rubik Financial, a publicly listed technology provider to the financial services industry.
The evolution of the GDS model [full story]

Monday 23 May 2011:

Ireland-based Travelpaths picks Travelport for GDS and technology services. The online travel agency will use Galileo for distribution requirements and the Universal API product for search and booking capability on its website.
Amadeus partners with Korean Air to "power the future of the Korean travel industry". The airline will be migrating its passenger servicing systems to the Altea customer management system but also nationwide travel agent information subsidiary TOPAS will use Amadeus to power its reservation technology.

Sunday 22 May 2011:

Friday 20 May 2011:

Sabre Travel Network renews distribution with Hertz Corporation. The deal gives agents on the Sabre GDS access to car rental services in 8,000 locations around the world. Sabre says $2 billion in car rental revenue comes through its GDS platform every year.
Welcome to a new world of standards in travel technology [full story]

Thursday 19 May 2011:

Helvetic Airways signs distribution agreement with Travelport. The agreement sees the airline (running services from Bern and Zurich to other European destinations) made available on all Travelport GDS platforms.
Travelport promotes to create head of supplier position in Europe. Robin Ranken, ex-director of supplier for Central and Eastern Europe, will take on the position immediately and see him responsible for supplier content, merchandising opportunities and joint business strategies.
Technically speaking, are air fares fair? [full story]
Picture this: Sabre upgrades graphical features on agency desktops [full story]

Tuesday 17 May 2011:

Amadeus announces debt refinancing programme. A credit facility of Euro 2.7 billion will be made in four tranches from Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Deutsche Bank AG, ING Belgium, Sucursal en España, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley Senior Funding, NATIXIS and The Royal Bank of Scotland. The largest section, Euro 1.2 billion, will come in the second phase.
Travelport unveils Universal API in Russia. The country is the first in Eastern Europe to get an official launch following similar roll-outs and developer days in 11 other countries.
British Airways moving into the spotlight over distribution model [full story]

Monday 16 May 2011:

Polish travel agency Blue Sky Travel signs agreement with Travelport. The company will use the Galileo and Worldspan GDSs to run online flight sales, low-fare shopping tool e-Pricing and Travelport partner TravelTECH's internet booking engine.
Amadeus and Ian Allan Travel renew partnership. The three-year agreement gives the corporate travel management company access to the Amadeus GDS as well as the Selling Platform, Quality Control and e-Travel Management tools.
Tours and activities GDS Unaira ends operations [full story]
Orbitz to move some searches from ITA Software to Travelport [full story]
Travelport Q1 2011 results – bitesize summary [full story]

Thursday 12 May 2011:

Travelport plans to invest in a new support function for its hotel and car suppliers working with the Galileo, Worldspan and Travelport Leisure platforms. Helpdesk centres will be opened in Dublin, Ireland, and Parisppany, US, to handle calls from over 230 hotel and car customers.
American Airlines visiting travel agents with direct-connect contract push [full story]
GetThere pushes train services with SilverRail partnership [full story]
Sabre and American Airlines trade shots over system withdrawal [full story]

Monday 9 May 2011:

United Airlines and Amadeus dissolve Altéa contract with $75M payment [full story]
Amadeus Q1 2011 results – bitesize summary [full story]
European rail promise as technology standards project begins [full story]

Friday 6 May 2011:

GTA is now officially owned by Kuoni. Travelport's $720 million deal to offload its hotel and ground transport business to Kuoni, announced in early-March 2011, completed this morning. Travelport says the decision to sell the division will allow it to focus on "maximising the potential of its core business".

Thursday 5 May 2011:

Travelport and FlyDubai sign multi-year distribution deal. Fares and availability from the Dubai government-owned low cost carrier will be made available to all Worldspan and Galileo-connected agents around the world. Travelport is the first GDS with which FlyDubai has signed a distribution agreement.

Wednesday 4 May 2011:

Alitalia and Travelport sign global, full content distribution agreement. The multi-year deal is an extension of the previous agreement and gives agent connected to the Galileo and Worldspan GDSs access to full fares and inventory from the Italian carrier.

Monday 2 May 2011:

Travelport agrees new distribution agreement with Vision Airlines. The airline, which specialises in flying corporations, sports teams and government agencies to a strong of global destinations, will have its inventory streamed to Worldspan and Galileo-connected agencies around the world.
Looking at airline distribution as part of an overall travel industry strategy [full story]
Amadeus Ideas for Travel – Most popular in April [full story]

Previous GDS updates:

Amadeus