Travelport believes its global marketshare declined slightly during the first quarter, but officials are very bullish about the global distribution system's growth prospects in Japan, China and Africa.
Varying by region, Travelport believes it has about a 30% global marketshare among GDSs.
As previously announced, Travelport agreed to host Japan Airlines' Axess distribution system, giving Axess travel agents in Japan and agents connected to Travelport's GDSs access to bookings in both systems. The integration is expected to be completed by the end of 2013.
Gordon Wilson, Travelport CEO, said during a first quarter earnings call today that two homegrown distribution systems in Japan, which boasts the third largest gross domestic product in the world, control two-thirds of the Japan market and Axess is considered the larger of the two.
Speaking of local distribution systems, Wilson also pointed to Travelport's new agreement with China's TravelSky, which calls for TravelSky-connected travel agents to get access to Travelport's Rooms and More hotel booking solution.
Rooms and More features some 275,000 properties and saw its bookings rise 20% in March compared with February, Wilson said. The hotel solution is a key part, along with payment solutions and ancillaries, in Travelport's efforts to diversify its revenue.
Meanwhile, Wilson said Travelport's recent acquisition of Galileo Southern Africa from South African Airways "augments our leading position in this region."
Over the past year, Travelport has increased its presence in Africa to 39 countries, up from 29.
During the first quarter, Travelport saw its segments grow in every region, with the exception of Europe (down 1.9%), where the business was negatively impacted by the merger of Opodo, eDreams and GoVoyages. Travelport's loss was Amadeus's gain in that consolidation.
Travelport's segments grew in the first quarter in the Americas (3.5%), Middle East and Africa (5.7%), Asia Pacific (3.9%), with global segments edging upwards 2.4%.
Part of the growth in the Americas for Travelport can be attributed to American Airlines' flights being back on Orbitz, whereas they were absent a year earlier because of a contract dispute between the airline, on the one hand, and Orbitz and Travelport on the other.
Note: Japan photo on homepage courtesy of Shutterstock.