Tag Archives: Amadeus

Amadeus and Air India have announced signing the new distribution agreement. The airline will benefit from the world’s largest and most diverse travel seller community, using the best professional sales technology underpinned by the Amadeus Travel Platform. Travel sellers in India will have access to the airline’s pure full international content only, while travel sellers in the rest of the world will have access to the full range of Air India’s content, both domestic and international. Working with Amadeus will help accelerate the airline’s growth in 2020 and beyond, an important step in the airline’s vision and renewed relationship with Amadeus. Meenakshi Mallik, Commercial Director, Air India, said, “We are pleased to renew our relationship with Amadeus to support our growth strategy globally and hope that this is the first step in our new journey together. We look forward to working closer with Amadeus to support agencies and travellers in the future.” Cyril Tetaz, Executive Vice President, Airlines, Asia Pacific, Amadeus, said, “We are glad to once again work with Air India and play a positive role in the airline’s growth strategy. Amadeus’ simple, open and agile system will allow Air India to innovate, experiment and collaborate to create new products which will add value to customers and create upsell or cross-sell opportunities.”

Amadeus recently welcomed travel industry leaders to an exclusive gathering in the Amadeus Majlis at Arabian Nights Village, located in the heart of Abu Dhabi’s desert. Hosted by Antoine Medawar, Senior Vice President Retail MEA at Amadeus, and Ernesto Sanchez Beaumont, Managing Director of Amadeus Gulf, the industry leaders discussed the future of the travel industry, the role of new distribution capability (NDC) in travel, and the impact of digital technologies in the industry. They were joined by members of the Amadeus Gulf team. Antoine Medawar, Senior Vice President Retail MEA at Amadeus, said, “As the travel industry continues to evolve and become increasingly complex, we are further committed to connecting with our customers to determine how we can best address the challenges they face with their business. With the increased investment in digital technologies to drive innovation, our customers are becoming more specialised to better serve travelers, underlining the need for the industry to be digital-first and customer-centric.” Ernesto Sanchez Beaumont, Managing Director of Amadeus Gulf, said, “With all the changes taking place in the industry landscape, the most important factor in building a competitive edge is the ability of travel companies to embrace new sales and travel distribution models. By providing our customers with access to more content and advanced technology, we are helping them to remain competitive and to sell travel in an efficient, and personalised way. By working closely together, the industry can unlock new value for travelers, and generate more business for all.”

Digital Venture has signed an agreement with Amadeus to become the exclusive distributor for its innovative and unique media solutions inventory for Amadeus travel itinerary documents and CheckMyTrip for all advertising demands in the GCC, Levant, Egypt & Italy regions. Digital Venture will work directly with advertisers and agencies in the regions. Through these Amadeus media solutions products, Digital Venture will provide its clients with direct access to engage with global confirmed passengers before, during and after their trip experience, with points of sale in the exclusive regions. Amadeus’ media solutions advertising products are travel documents issued by travel agencies and CheckMyTrip mobile app, which help brands with specialised targeting criteria to deliver personalised offers to booked travelers. These criteria include language, booking class, business category, origin, destination, connection, connection duration, trip duration, booking dates, class of service, trip elements booked, trip companion, affluence, gender, trip purpose and many more. Commenting on this strategic alliance, Sami Hamade, CEO, Digital Venture, said, “Travellers are attentive and receptive to their trip context. Interaction at these key stages increases brand recall. The aim is to offer relevant content at the time and place when the audience demands it.” Sol Freixa, Global Director for Travel Advertising Sales & Marketing, Travel Channels, Amadeus, said, “With one of the fastest growing online travel sectors in the world, it is no surprise that the region is deeply committed to digital transformation. Travel advertising plays a key role in this as it allows retailers to reach travellers in new, interactive ways, at the right moment.”

Amadeus signed a landmark hospitality distribution agreement with Booking.com to integrate its accommodation content into the Amadeus Travel Platform for the first time. Amadeus’ extensive travel seller network will make Booking.com’s content available to even more travellers worldwide. Every day more than 1.5 million room nights are reserved across 228 countries and territories worldwide via the Booking.com platform. Thanks to a new partnership between Amadeus and Booking.com, travel sellers will now be able to access the vast and rich content of the company’s extensive listings. This includes everything from hotels, motels and resorts to homes, apartments and many other unique places to stay provided by Booking.com through the Amadeus Travel Platform. As a result of this partnership, travel sellers will directly benefit from an increase of 30% in the accommodation options made available by Amadeus. They will be able to access the new content in the coming months through multiple points of sale including Amadeus Selling Platform Connect and, for corporate bookers, through Amadeus Cytric Travel & Expense. Ripsy Bandourian, VP of Partnerships at Booking.com, said, “We’re constantly on the lookout for strategic collaborations that can enable us to reach even more people around the globe, empowering them to easily discover and book their ideal travel experiences via Booking.com.” Jorge Elliott, EVP of Travel Content Sourcing, Travel Channels, Amadeus, said, “We’re confident that the partnership between Amadeus and Booking.com will bring a number of benefits to our travel seller community. Amadeus’ technology combined with Booking.com’s content means that travel sellers can search, book and integrate Booking.com’s content seamlessly, ensuring the booking process is simple, and trips can easily be customised for travellers.” Peter Waters, EVP, Hotels, Mobility & Insurance, Amadeus, …

RwandAir has announced its expansion through partnership with Amadeus to adopt technology that will allow its customers to benefit from improved efficiency, better experience and increased convenience. This is in line with further boosting Rwanda as a travel destination. Last year Rwanda’s capital city, Kigali was ranked the third most popular destination in Africa to host international conferences. RwandAir was recently named the 10th most-improved airline in the world by Skytrax and has built a reputation for excellent on-time performance. Having previously provided RwandAir with distribution services, Amadeus will now roll out solutions across passenger systems, revenue management, loyalty management, payments, and data and analytics. The extended partnership intends to support RwandAir’s plans of expanding its network and fleet. Yvonne Manzi Makolo, CEO, RwandAir said, “RwandAir is committed to providing an impeccable customer experience that will fuel our continued expansion in the years to come. We look forward to an extended partnership with Amadeus that will provide us with the world-class passenger services solution with an upgrade of our reservations, ticketing, departure control, e-commerce, market intelligence and loyalty systems”. The benefits of using the Amadeus’s Passenger System (Altéa) also extend to Amadeus’ global travel seller network. Maher Koubaa, VP META, Amadeus, said, “Amadeus uses industry insights combined with smart technology to build the technology that empowers airlines, travel agents and their customers alike to streamline processes, boost convenience, build reputation and loyalty, and more. We’re proud that our partnership with RwandAir has grown so that we can continue to contribute to its growth story.”

Amadeus has expanded its airline business unit capabilities at its Dubai regional hub covering Middle East, Turkey and Africa region. Following the regionalisation of all business units to get closer to their customers, teams in the Dubai regional hub now include those of airlines, travel agencies, airport IT, payments, mobile and legal. Sabine Hansen Peck, SVP, People & Culture, Communication and Brand, Amadeus, opened the new office of the Dubai-based Amadeus Regional Hub. Further, commenting on the occasion, she said, “The Middle East, Turkey and Africa regions are relevant and growing markets for Amadeus. This expansion reflects our commitment to the region.”

Jazeera Airways has announced a partnership with Amadeus that will open up increased fare options and availability for travel agencies. Serving more than 2.2 million passengers a year and flying to 26 destinations, Jazeera Airways strives to be the seamless connection between its customers and their sources of inspiration. By adopting Amadeus’ Global Distribution Services (GDS) solutions, the airline will be well-positioned to provide the best value to customers and agents who book through the Amadeus system, while enjoying streamlined processes throughout several aspects of its operations. This partnership adds to the airline’s agreement with Navitaire, an Amadeus company, to use its customer-centric reservation platform to help drive higher revenues.

Amadeus has acquired TravelClick from Thoma Bravo, an equity investment firm, for US $1.52bn. TravelClick provides innovative cloud-based solutions, including an independent and mid-size hotel Central Reservation System (CRS) and Guest Management Solution (GMS), as well as business intelligence and media solutions. This portfolio gives hotels distribution reach across all channels, both digital and traditional. It also allows them to improve digital interaction with guests, increase revenues and performance, reduce cost and create a strong brand. The addition of TravelClick’s solutions to the Amadeus portfolio will create a hospitality leader providing a broad range of innovative technology to hotels and chains of all sizes across the globe. As part of the acquisition, approximately 1,100 TravelClick employees are expected to join Amadeus. “TravelClick has a great team, great technology and a broad customer base, and we are looking forward to welcoming such a successful business into Amadeus,” said Luis Maroto, President and CEO of Amadeus. “Our ambition is to provide the hospitality industry with the tools they need to grow their businesses and deliver a great experience to their guests. The combination of our two portfolios will allow us to provide that to hotels of all shapes and sizes across the world.” “This deal marks the next stage in TravelClick’s incredible journey of success in delivering groundbreaking solutions for hoteliers,” said Larry Kutscher, CEO of TravelClick. “I couldn’t be more proud of our team or more excited about the impact our combined companies will have on the hospitality industry as we begin to deliver the next generation of innovation for hoteliers.”

As corporate travel behaviour continues to evolve in the Middle East, Amadeus has launched a new corporate self-booking tool to support business travellers in the Middle East and North Africa in managing busy schedules while reducing travel costs. The engine was designed taking into account feedback from travel management companies and business travel trends in the region, recognising that today’s business travellers require the latest technologies to keep them connected, productive and on the move. Amadeus Online Corporate Traveller uses automated processes to integrate all phases of travel management, thereby uniting the business traveller, travel management companies, travel managers, and financial officers with one ultimate shared destination – business success. It is being launched in partnership with BirdRes, a leading B2B application developer including automation tools, which is also a reseller of Amadeus products in India. Antoine Medawar, Vice President, Amadeus MENA, said, “Corporate travellers in the region require quick and convenient tools that meet their business needs—and often demanding schedules. The Amadeus Online Corporate Traveller fulfils these requirements by connecting the traveller with every person involved in the booking process, from the finance team through to the travel management company. This will deliver a seamless experience to the end user while enabling all involved to benefit from more streamlined processes.” Ankur Bhatia, Director, BirdRes, said, “One-stop solutions are in demand in the MENA region as travel management companies seek the most convenient way of meeting the varied needs of their customers. The Amadeus Online Corporate Traveller is suited to the region’s latest travel policies, demonstrating a deep understanding of consumer preferences and needs.”

Al Masaood Travel has signed a three-year technology partnership with Amadeus Gulf to retain its competitive edge in the Gulf’s travel industry by enhancing the agency’s operational efficiencies and productivity. The agency’s renewed agreement with Amadeus includes a number of digital solutions to create even higher value for its customers. The strategic partnership includes the implementation of Amadeus Ticket Changer, a robust suite of products to apply reissue and refund policies, Amadeus Fare Optimizer for detecting the best available travel fares at any given time, and Amadeus Web Services, allowing the agency to integrate travel-related functionalities into any digital application from a single point of access. Akram Sharaf, General Manager of Al Masaood Travel, said, “Identifying and maximizing opportunities for our customers is our priority. The extension of our partnership with Amadeus reflects this commitment, and will support us as we focus on unsurpassed customer care while expanding into new market segments.” Graham Nichols, Managing Director of Amadeus Gulf, said, “Both travel agencies and their customers want access to simple, easy to use platforms in a digital age. We are pleased to support Al Masaood Travel in delivering on these expectations and creating even more personalized and fulfilling travel experiences in the years ahead.” The agreement comes at a time when Abu Dhabi continues to advance as a regional travel and tourism hub. According to Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism, the UAE’s capital has generated over AED 5 billion of revenue generated from hosting 4.8 million visitors in 2017 .