Category Archives: Technology

Al Tayyar Travel Group, as part of its sustained efforts to contribute to the development of the corporate travel sector, has signed a new partnership agreement with Amadeus. The agreement extension till the year 2020 will transform the existing relationship between Amadeus and Al Tayyar to a strategic partnership, and expand their cooperation from the local level to the Middle East and North Africa. The signing of the agreement marks a step forward in ensuring the delivery of quality services to a wider customer base across the region. Al Tayyar Group’s decision to upgrade the partnership with Amadeus to the regional level is in line with its intensive projects and investments in the e-commerce, travel and tourism industries, as well as its global expansions. Abdullah bin Nasser Al-Dawood, Managing Director & CEO of Al Tayyar Travel Group, said, “As a major company in the regional travel sector, Al Tayyar has been building on the solid foundation of our existing relationship with global travel solutions providers like Amadeus. Our vision is to find innovative ways to meet the needs of the market and create new avenues for growth. The expansion of our strategic partnership with Amadeus to the regional level will further strengthen our relationship and infuse fresh energy to the corporate travel sector in the region.” Amadeus is one of main leading innovators in the travel sector; it has been empowering the regional travel industry with next-generation products and services to help it overcome rising costs, unpredictable market conditions and changing business models. Its integrated and comprehensive suite of solutions allows travel agencies to streamline and enhance the corporate travel process, enabling them to leverage the opportunities offered by automation …

Travelport and Flynas, a low-cost carrier from Saudi Arabia, have announced the signing of a multi-year, full content agreement. Launched in 2007, Flynas operates nearly 1,000 weekly flights to 30 destinations within and outside Saudi Arabia. The new agreement will see Flynas’ full content and inventory, including its branded fares and ancillaries become available to over 68,000 travel agencies, across 180 countries through Travelport’s Travel Commerce Platform. Furthermore, the airline now joins over 180 airlines which are currently live on Travelport’s merchandising technology solution for airlines, Travelport Rich Content and Branding. Through Travelport, the airline will be able to effectively promote Flynas’ products and services, including its dedicated Business Class Cabin, which has seen a significant investment from Flynas since 2013. Agents will also be able to access naSmiles, the frequent flyer program of Flynas, through which travellers can earn SMILE Points when booking flights and ancillaries. Also, Rich Content and Branding will enable the airline’s content to appear on travel agents’ screens, with rich, graphical product descriptions, boosting upselling opportunities for the travel agent community at the time of booking. Paul Byrne, Chief Executive Officer at Flynas, commented: “This new agreement with Travelport will provide the platform for our business to further improve our customer service, expand our presence across the globe and grow our revenues. Travelport’s industry leading Travel Commerce Platform has impressive capabilities and we are pleased to have signed this partnership. “ Matthew Powell, Managing Director, Middle East and South Asia, Travelport said: “We are delighted that Flynas has seen the value in our innovative Travel Commerce Platform. Our platform enables travel providers and their evolving technologies to deliver the widest choice of relevant content for …

Sabre Corporation is supporting Emirates airline with industry-leading technology that personalises the travel experience for consumers by enabling them to easily purchase a range of customised fares. Sabre and Emirates have also signed a new long-term global distribution agreement to make the airline’s fares available to travel agents globally who use Sabre. Emirates, the world’s largest international airline, operates more than 3,600 flights per week to over 150 destinations across six continents. Sabre’s technology will enable the airline to effectively market and sell its expansive roster of fares globally through the Sabre Travel Marketplace, reaching more than 425,000 travel agents across the world. Sabre’s technology enables travel agents to meet a growing demand and expectation from consumers for more personalised products and services. Using Sabre’s enhanced solution, travel agents can now provide travellers with Emirates’ range of branded fares, which enable passengers to choose fares based on what is most important to them – such as purchasing a budget fare, earning the most air miles or having the greatest degree of flexibility. “Emirates airline is a brand that invests significantly in differentiating the traveller experience, and personalisation plays a central role in this strategy,” said Dean Bibb, interim senior vice president EMEA at Sabre. “The airline’s new range of branded fares offers passengers more choices and greater control over their travel experience, which often means happier travellers and higher satisfaction. Helping our airline customers put travellers at the heart of their operation is a major focus for Sabre and our investment efforts.” Travel agents using Sabre can now offer clients more informed choices and a higher level of customer service, while also driving upsell opportunities based on enhanced visibility to …

Travelport and Al Hashim Travel have announced a new, exclusive, long-term agreement. Al Hashim Travel is located in the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia, with 10 branches in the region. The agency is also set to expand across in Saudi Arabia in 2017. The agreement with Travelport will see Al Hashim Travel benefit from the industry leading merchandising and desktop technology, Travelport Smartpoint.  Travelport Smartpoint allows travel agents to not only sell airline tickets, but also the branded fares and ancillaries of over 400 of the world’s leading airlines, including network and low-cost carriers. Additionally, over 650,000 unique hotel properties and 36,000 car rental locations are available through Travelport’s Travel Commerce Platform. Commenting on the new agreement, Abbas AlSaleh, Chief Executive Officer, Al Hashim Travel, said: “This exclusive deal with Travelport provides a great opportunity for our business to advance our operations. We strongly believe that Travelport’s pioneering technology will support our business to work smarter, grow revenues and enhance our online presence.” Asgar Khan, General Manager, Al Hashim Travel, said: “Travellers are increasingly expecting a more personalised travel experience. They want more choice and flexibility when they book. Travelport’s technology is cutting edge in enabling us to meet and exceed our customers’ expectations around new travel trends.” Ibrahim El Mohandes, Country Manager, Travelport Saudi Arabia, said: “We are delighted that Al Hashim Travel, a leading travel agent in Saudi Arabia, has seen the value in our Travel Commerce Platform. Our innovative technology solutions will not only help them to boost their online presence and grow sales but also increase their brand awareness both within the Kingdom and internationally.”

Kuwait-based agency Rehlat has selected Sabre Corporation to power its online platform, rehlat.com. Rehlat opted for Sabre’s industry-leading technology and travel management services to increase its online conversion performance, revenue and customer satisfaction as well as personalize its offering, Bader Al Bader, President and founder of Rehlat Travel said, “It’s only been a couple of months since we launched our operations on Sabre, but we have already seen the positive impact on our sales and performance. Sabre’s global expertise in online travel, impressive dedication, and scale of cutting-edge technology made them an easy choice to help us provide a personalized travel experience for our customers. We look forward to rolling out new capabilities in mobile and social media to meet the expectations of our tech-savvy travelers.” Daniel Naoumovitch, CEO Sabre Travel Network Middle East stated, “Online travel has doubled in the Middle East since 2013 and online travel agencies, like Rehlat, are exceeding growth expectations as more and more consumers head online to shop for travel. We share Rehlat’s passion to provide a seamless travel experience and believe that technology can simplify the complexity of today’s travel, and unlock greater value, revenue and efficiency.”

Mini Port is a daily passenger baggage transportation service between Taksim and Atatürk Airport . The passenger comes to the Mini Port Service Point and submits their flight information to the officials, the Miniport Service Officer welcomes the passengers and receives their baggage, The Mini Port officials comply with the transport procedures of baggage arriving by the vehicle of the transportation company. This occurs at scheduled times, three times a day to the Mini Port Office in AHL International Lines metro floor from Taksim Mini Port Office. The passenger who is travelling from Istanbul and receives his baggage from AHL Mini Port Office, delivers his baggage to the counters in check-in area as complying with normal flight check-in procedures and the service is offered from Airport to Taksim and from Taksim to Airport. The scope of services was expanded and within the cooperation with the contracted hotels in Taksim region, passenger baggages will be transported from these hotels to Atatürk Airport. Recently, Turkish Airlines presented new features including Denon Headphones to be added to its on-board entertainment services. Due to this recent in-flight innovation, Turkish Airlines’ business class travellers on extended route flights will have the possibility to experience a renewed audio experience without any cost. This brand new app has been created in accordance with the Off-Airport concept which is now very much preferred by modern airlines. Now passengers who have to check out early from their hotels would spend their day comfortably without carrying their baggages. The Mini Port Office in Istanbul Atatürk Airport is located on the metro floor. Ahmet Olmuştur, Chief Marketing Officer, Turkish Airlines, said: “Turkish Airlines has been confirmed as one of the companies …

Sabre Corporation’s board of directors has appointed Sean Menke as President, CEO and a member of Sabre’s board, effective Dec 31, 2016. Menke will succeed Tom Klein, who has served as president, CEO and board member since 2013. “After an extensive search of qualified candidates, the board unanimously concluded that Sean is the right choice to lead Sabre. Since his arrival last year, Sean has demonstrated that his strong industry knowledge and expertise coupled with his decisive, results-oriented management style are an effective combination. These traits will help Sabre drive innovation as the travel industry’s technology leader and serve the needs of airlines, hotels, travel agents and travelers alike.  I look forward to working with Sean to make this happen,” said Larry Kellner, executive chairman of Sabre’s Board of Directors. Menke joined Sabre in October 2015 and currently serves as executive vice president of Sabre and president of Sabre Travel Network, Sabre’s largest line of business.  Under Menke’s leadership, Sabre Travel Network has won major new business opportunities, increased global market share and secured Sabre’s position as the leading global distribution system in three of its four major operating regions (North America, Latin America and Asia-Pacific), and successfully extended new multi-year agreements with many of its largest global travel management companies, online travel agencies and travel retailers.  In addition, he has led the innovation that enables the sale of more customized fares and ancillary products through Sabre Travel Network and strengthened the technology solutions that will be offered to travel agencies next year as part of the launch of the new Sabre Red platform.  Prior to Sabre, Menke served as CEO of Frontier Airlines and held senior executive positions at …

Amadeus Gulf hosted a technology show in Abu Dhabi showcasing the latest products and offerings to travel businesses in the region. The show had over 150 attendees catering to owners, decision-makers, and managers including travel agents. The main objective of the show was to educate customers about the newest solutions, enabling them to achieve better results in the coming year and prepare their business for 2017. Jauhar Abdul Gafoor, Sales Director – Abu Dhabi, Al-Ain & Oman, Amadeus Gulf, said: “Amadeus Gulf always focuses on the requirements of our key stakeholders and make available the right solutions that will benefit the travel industry. Amadeus Technology Show falls aptly in line with this objective and provides the ideal platform to showcase the wide array of technology products that are available to our partners and customers.” The travel industry is growing significantly and rapidly. In order to be able to be on par with the demands of this industry, it is crucial to adopt the latest technologies across businesses. Keeping this objective in mind, the technology show focused on educating and providing personalised solutions to travel agents. The highlight of the show was the Amadeus Selling Platform which is the state of art smart booking platform. Amadeus Gulf also demonstrated solutions such as Amadeus Agency Insight which provides the easy way to monitor, manage and optimize performance of the travel agencies business. Also, e-commerce products such as e-Power, Mobile Traveller and web services, as well as robotics solutions such as Touchless Solutions were showcased, which helps agents reduce their manual work and eliminate errors.  Apart from that Remote ticketing solution – a fully automated solution designed to manage pricing, price comparison and …

AVIAREPS has launched AVIACOLLECT, an online payment solution that allows small to medium offline airlines, hospitality brands, including standalone hotels and resorts, Destination Management Companies (DMCs), and providers of travel services, such as visa application, ground transportation, airport lounge access, car hire, attractions, sightseeing and travel insurance, to economically and effectively extend their international consumer and travel agent sales networks around the world. AVIACOLLECT was launched in response to the urgent business development needs of many small to mid-size tourism related companies to extend their sales distribution channels and presence internationally, in a manner that respects their unique brand, and is cost-effective to ensure a return on investment given limited resources. The payment solution can be used as a white label solution for AVIAREPS clients, allowing them to accept payments in targeted countries with local bank connections and in local currencies. As an AVIAREPS product AVIACOLLECT is naturally supported with in-market on the ground proactive promotion and distribution management by AVIAREPS professionals to established consumer and travel trade networks. AVIACOLLECT is also tailored to the needs of consumers and local travel agents seeking an online one stop information and payment platform, as visitors to the site can book all types of services for travel around the world; including accommodation, airport transfers, tours, airport lounge access and more, and then pay for them all in one online credit card payment. Each AVIACOLLECT portal is also tailored to the consumers and travel agents of each particular market, so that language, currency payments and even visa and other information is specific to that specific country or region. Clients too can tailor seasonal and promotional offerings to each individual market.

The UAE Ministry of Economy (MoE) has launched the first phase of its ‘Be Happy – Visit UAE’ application as part of its featured initiatives for UAE Innovation Week 2016 at the Tourism Innovation and Transformation Forum 2016 organised by the Ministry and held on November 23, 2016, at the Westin Hotel in Dubai. The application is the first of its kind in the UAE and was developed to measure the satisfaction of visitors and tourists during their stay. Its interactive features enable users to indicate their satisfaction and happiness depending on their location. The tool was developed using the latest Internet Bot technology. It provides visitors with an overview of touristic sights and updates on the features, services and purposes of the touristic sector. Additional interesting information on the UAE are provided as well. The application facilitates live chats and interactive discussions for visitors to express their needs and introduces touristic services and products that can meet users’ requirements. The application’s user-friendly interactive platform features an avatar of an Emirati character, designed to represent the Bot character which assists the tourist. Through the app, users can explore the country’s various touristic destinations and locate important sights, accommodations, hotels and restaurants aside from accessing information on the weather and touristic events across the UAE. H.E. Mohammed Khamis Al Muhairi, Undersecretary at the Ministry of Economy, explained that the launch of the app forms part of the Ministry’s ongoing efforts to integrate innovation into the country’s various vital sectors, particularly tourism which he said promotes sustainable growth and competitiveness. He added that such initiatives advance the Ministry’s vision of building a diversified and knowledge-based economy empowered by innovation and new technology. …