Amadeus is shutting down its self-service APIs portal for developers, the company confirmed in a letter to users.
In the letter, which was posted by stakeholders on LinkedIn, Amadeus said it is “pausing” registration for new users next month and fully decommissioning the portal for existing users on July 17. As of that date, API keys will be disabled, and the self-service portal will be inaccessible.
The Amadeus Enterprise portal, however, is not affected by the changes.
“If you are an Amadeus Enterprise customer, you will be able to continue using the Enterprise APIs through the Amadeus Enterprise portal without any issues,” Amadeus wrote. Enterprise customers also using the self-service APIs were advised to reach out to their account managers to migrate their application.
The company did not provide a reason for the change in its message to users.
"We are decommissioning only the self‑service section of the Amadeus for Developers portal," an Amadeus spokesperson said.
"The Enterprise portal and Enterprise APIs remain fully available and continue to serve our large community of developers and partners worldwide. We remain committed to supporting the developer community throughout this transition. We will continue to engage with developers, gather feedback and ensure that the right tools and pathways are in place for building new travel experiences."
In a LinkedIn post, Martijn van der Voort, independent consultant and director for travel consultancy AstraNomad, said he understood Amadeus’ move but deemed the timing “wild.”
“Right as AI agents are about to reshape how people actually book travel, Amadeus just made sure nobody can experiment unless they can afford enterprise pricing. Want to build a better search experience? Need approval and a big contract first. Brilliant booking flow idea? Better have enterprise budget,” he wrote.
We have enough ‘dogs in the manger’ within the industry. When the biggest player doesn’t play nice, we all suffer.
Timothy O'Neil-Dunne, T2Impact
Van der Voort argued that open access via a developer portal is unsettling for incumbents like Amadeus, allowing developers to use APIs and publicly present different versions of them, potentially in a better form.
“This is not a risk most incumbents welcome,” he wrote. “Closing the door removes that exposure. It ensures innovation happens on your terms, at your pace and behind your branding. It is not about whether innovation occurs. It is about who is allowed to demonstrate it and who is not. This is why open ecosystems are always fragile once the core platform feels threatened. It’s protectionism. That is that part worth paying attention to.”
In the comment section, industry players added that innovation will just take place elsewhere, especially with AI on the rise.
“AI agents are about to redefine how travel is discovered, priced and booked—and the response is to gate access? That won’t stop innovation. It just pushes it outside the walls,” Louis-Hippolyte Bouchayer, head of lodging strategy and supplier management for SAP Concur and VP of distribution for Club Quarters Hotels, wrote.
Still, according to Timothy O’Neil-Dunne, principal of travel and aviation consultancy T2Impact, this move may not bode well for Amadeus in the long run.
“Amadeus is so dominant that they must provide access or they will face the wrath of the regulators,” he told PhocusWire.
“I see this overall as a bad move. We have enough ‘dogs in the manger’ within the industry. When the biggest player doesn’t play nice, we all suffer.”
Additionally, it may open up opportunities for competition, as Sabre has added agentic AI features to its developer portal, Eric Léopold, founder and managing director of Swiss travel consultancy Threedot, said.
The threat to startups
According to Zoftify and Tourseta founder Alex Ragin, travel tech startups may struggle to survive amid these changes, as travel APIs are already difficult to integrate because of complexity and accessibility.
“Flights, hotels, activities all came with friction. This move raises the bar even higher, especially for startups,” he wrote on LinkedIn, noting that a lot of these early-stage companies and travel apps lack a go-to-market strategy.
“If you want to build on semi-open travel data at scale, expect to pay for it. Big win for aggregators and consolidators. Enterprise access just became a premium product you can resell.”
Alice Ferrari, CEO and co-founder of Kyte, an API integration that allows airlines to sell their products across direct and third-party channels, also noted that APIs have increased access for newcomers, even though standards like New Distribution Capability remain difficult to navigate.
The industry is arguably past the point of no return.
Alice Ferrari, Kyte
But while Amadeus may appear to be limiting innovation for the sake of control, the latest move may not be as detrimental as it appears at first glance.
“The industry is arguably past the point of no return,” she said.
“Airline content is becoming increasingly open, and distribution no longer depends on a small number of proprietary sources. Given the speed of AI development and the growing reliance on these technologies, attempts to restrict access risk being short-sighted.”
According to Léopold, there may be another solution.
“The travel industry may need an open-source community that supports innovation, like in the AI domain.”