Happier days at Travelport with the first pilots unveiled for its Universal Desktop platform in Asia and influential credit agency S&P upgrading the company's financial rating.
The Universal Desktop test partners in the Asia-Pacific region, scheduled to start beta testing shortly, will be MP Travel and Orba Travel Brokers in Australia, Quotient Travel and Serangoon Air Travel Pte Ltd in Singapore as well as SkyJet and Shalom in Hong Kong.
The addition of the six Asian pilots follows the long-term testing through Flight Centre over the past year and recent unveiling of business travel management company GTM in the UK as its first European partner.
Travelport is positioning the Universal Desktop (and the associated Universal API) as the next-generation tool to overhaul ageing travel agency desktop technology, its rival to Sabre's Red and the Amadeus One systems.
Meanwhile, Travelport is feeling the impact of winning support to extend its debt plan to 2016, getting the thumbs-up from one of the big three credit agencies, Standard & Poor's, with an increase in its financial rating.
S&P downgraded the rating in mid-September as concerns mounted over Travelport's ability to service its PIK (payment-in-kind) loan ahead of a March 2012 deadline.
But with winning unanimous approval at the eleventh hour, S&P has now upgraded Travelport's rating to B-, although the agency still has concerns ("less than adequate") over the general liquidity of the company.
Travelport's financial position has improved, S&P says, adding with a caveat:
"Following the extension of the maturity of the PIK loans, we consider that Travelport's liquidity position has improved.
"However, in our view, liquidity remains less than adequate due to the upcoming first-lien bank debt maturity in August 2013, our opinion of Travelport's weakened standing in the credit markets, and tightening covenant headroom in the future. The group remains highly leveraged, which constrains the long-term corporate credit rating at the current level."
Moody's, the first of the so-called big three credit agencies to downgrade Travelport earlier in the summer, has yet to respond formally with any change to the Travelport rating.