Tag Archives: Travelport

Travelport and Emirates announced they have reached a commercial agreement that will allow Travelport-connected travel agencies to avoid the airline’s surcharge on bookings via Global Distribution Systems (GDS) that will be introduced from 01 July 2021. Furthermore, the companies announced a new long-term agreement to enable the distribution of Emirates NDC content via Travelport’s next-generation platform, Travelport+, and an extension to its longstanding IT agreement. Adnan Kazim, Chief Commercial Officer at Emirates said: “We are pleased to have reached key agreements with Travelport that take our decades-long partnership to the next level. Supported by the recent launch of Travelport+, these new deals will further cement Emirates as the airline of choice for travellers that want highly personalized offers and access to the world’s best destinations. Emirates and Travelport will continue to work jointly on future travel retail solutions that will offer our travel community partners even better and more bespoke services.” Jason Clarke, Chief Commercial Officer, Travel Partners at Travelport, said, “This series of agreements highlights the determination of both Travelport and Emirates to re-invent travel retailing and push the boundaries of what’s possible. With a shared vision for the future, our long-standing collaboration will continue to go from strength-to-strength. Together, we look forward to giving the many travelers returning to the skies this summer and beyond the best possible offers and experiences.”

Travel industry can boost global recovery by addressing consumer trust gaps in price transparency, COVID-19 health and safety measures, data privacy and information credibility, according to new independent research commissioned by worldwide leader in travel retail, Travelport. “The travel industry needs to sharpen its focus on trust”, said Greg Webb, Chief Executive Officer at Travelport. “This study has shown, as an industry, we are not as trusted as we would like. The good news, however, is that we now know what the issues are and we also have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hit reset, as countries re-open and travelers eagerly get back on airplanes. If we move quickly to address these issues, we can accelerate industry recovery as well as the modernization of travel retailing.” “Trusted companies make better retailers”, Webb concluded. “When trust is combined with cutting-edge technology and effective sales, it becomes a powerful proposition. At Travelport, we will continue to invest in each of these areas in a bid to not only help the industry rebound from the pandemic, but come out the other side more agile and stronger.”

Travelport introduced its enhanced RESTful / JSON APIs that will provide next-generation retailing and exchange capabilities to travel retailers worldwide. As part of Travelport’s investment in its next-generation platform, Travelport+, the new APIs are being rolled out globally and will offer retailers a gateway to better content choices, the tools to tailor their retailing experience, and the power to greatly improve the efficiency of their operations. “With our new APIs, we’ve expanded our modern retailing toolkit so that agencies upgrading to Travelport+ can more easily personalize the retailing experience they provide to their customers,” said Greg Webb, Chief Executive Officer at Travelport. “The improvements we’ve made with these enhanced RESTful / JSON APIs will give travel retailers around the world simplified access to dynamic retail-ready content, from multiple sources, across all of their points of sale. And to ensure agencies can effectively operate as modern digital retailers, our APIs will also deliver the tools to optimize storefronts, better engage customers and manage trips more efficiently.” The modern, lightweight and highly functional APIs, which can also be used in conjunction with Travelport’s SOAP / XML APIs, drive up to 68% faster average transactions and a faster shopping and booking experience for travelers. The JSON API also enables greater flexibility and speed for developers, fostering quick, seamless connections and an optimized experience for both developers and travel retailers. Travelport’s new APIs include all of the details needed for public, private and tour operator specific air content and can be deeply enriched with Travelport’s branded fares. Additional API capabilities include streamed, cached content, speeding up the delivery of marketplace pricing and giving retailers the ability to inspire customers with highly relevant travel offers. …

eDreams ODIGEO expands its leading flight content platform through strategic technology agreement with Travelport – With this deal, Europe’s largest online travel company and the second largest flight retailer in the world signs a strategic agreement with Travelport, a worldwide leader in travel retail – Using the next-generation Travelport+ platform, eDreams ODIGEO will offer customers more choice in airline routes, including unique carrier content and unique ancillary services – The agreement is part of eDreams ODIGEO’s business strategy to further strengthen its leading offering in a post-COVID world Barcelona. The platform’s retailing and merchandising capabilities will offer eDreams ODIGEO customers more flexibility and choice in their bookings, allowing them to create tailored routes which meet their exacting requirements. The customer-centric approach is also poised to benefit the business’ airline partners. The agreement sees two travel-tech heavy weights join forces to drive innovation across the industry. eDreams ODIGEO is a technology-led business with one of the largest development teams in the European travel industry. The business is transforming the online travel booking experience with innovative products, it also boasts industry-leading capabilities in machine-based learning. Today, eDreams ODIGEO leverages its leading Artificial Intelligence capabilities to generate over 45 billion daily predictions to anticipate customer needs and travel demand. Travelport+, in turn, represents a multi-year investment by Travelport to accelerate industry innovation in multi-source content distribution, travel retailing and value generation. The combination of these leading technology capabilities will result in unparalleled benefits for travellers and increased competitiveness for both businesses. Javier Bellido, Air Content Strategies Director at eDreams ODIGEO said, “The addition of Travelport’s leading travel retail system into our flight content platform is yet another example of how the business is …

Travelport announced a strategic, long-term collaboration with Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) to use advanced cloud technology to accelerate the digital transformation of retailing in the travel industry. The collaboration, which unites globally renowned expertise in travel technology, cloud technology, and hyper-personalized retailing, will focus on optimizing Travelport’s recently launched next-generation platform, Travelport+. It will also drive innovation in travel merchandising with the launch of a new accelerator program that will incorporate talent from the tech startup community. “The travel industry has struggled to keep up with the pace of change in digital retail,” said Greg Webb, Chief Executive Officer at Travelport. “This landmark collaboration is specifically designed to address just that. AWS’s retail heritage makes them uniquely qualified to optimize digital retail platforms, simplify complex environments, and enable game-changing innovation in the travel retailing space. With AWS as our preferred cloud partner, we are going to create a simpler, smarter, and better future for travel retailing.” “Travelport is using the flexibility, scalability, and reliability of the world’s leading cloud to provide the speed and insights needed to put the customer first,” said Adam Selipsky, Incoming CEO of Amazon Web Services, Inc. “By leveraging the broadest and deepest set of cloud capabilities and AWS’s proven global infrastructure, Travelport can enhance the performance of its platform and continue to develop new ways to simplify the travel booking experience. With people around the world beginning to return to travel, we look forward to working with Travelport to help the travel industry continue to innovate.”

Travelport announced a multi-year agreement with Business Travel Partners, through e-Business Travel, one of the largest consortiums of independent IATA travel agencies in the Netherlands. The win will see Business Travel Partners members migrate to Travelport+, Travelport’s newly-launched next-generation platform that creates a simplified, capability-rich, marketplace for travel retailing. The coalition of 11 specialist travel agencies which form Business Travel Partners has wide-ranging expertise in business, marine travel and individual travelers. Travelport is providing tailored solutions for each member, catered to their individual needs and, crucially, integrated into various existing third-party software already in use. These solutions will all be built on the Travelport+ platform, which will see the agencies benefiting from a broad range of multi-source travel content, an ever-broadening array of new merchandising capabilities designed to improve the traveler experience while maximizing revenue and customer loyalty, and enhanced value generation. To date, more than half of the Business Travel Partners agencies have migrated or are in the final stages of migrating to Travelport+, with other consortium members set to migrate in the coming months. “We found Travelport offered the best combination of advanced and agile solutions, along with dedicated consultancy and support that really made a difference to a consortium with diverse needs,” said Cees Bas, Chairman of Business Travel Partners and CEO of e-Business Travel. “Major technology upgrades are seldom easy, but Travelport’s implementation process was a remarkably seamless transition, with their team effectively acting as an extension of our own.” Alistair Rodger, Group Vice President of Agency Sales for Europe at Travelport said, “Being able to meet the needs of such a diverse collection of agencies really showcases the strength of the Travelport+ platform, as well …

Travelport launched its next-generation platform, Travelport+. It is the centerpiece of Travelport’s new global strategy and is designed to accelerate industry innovation in multi-source content distribution, travel retailing and value generation.  Travelport+ is an extensive, next-generation platform that creates a simplified, capability-rich, marketplace for travel retailing. As travel distribution has evolved, retrofitting new types of distribution into existing platforms has led to increased complexity across the industry, slowing progress. Travelport+ is a true multi-source platform offering more dynamic, differentiated, retail-ready content, delivering better choices for retailers and consumers, in a faster, frictionless way. “It’s a monumental moment in our history and in the development of our industry”, said Greg Webb, Chief Executive Officer at Travelport. “Travel hasn’t kept up with the evolution of modern digital retail and today, the buying and selling of travel is more complex than it needs to be. As Travelport is the only dedicated, global, travel distribution platform, we have made a multi-year investment to accelerate industry innovation in travel retailing. Bringing together the best of Travelport’s existing capabilities and tools and driving innovation to deliver the unmet needs of our industry, Travelport+ truly changes the game in the speed of delivery of modern travel retail and offers a fundamental upgrade to travel technology.”

Travelport launched a bold and distinct new visual identity, which has been created as part of the company’s first-ever end-to-end rebrand. “Travelport has transformed”, said Greg Webb, Chief Executive Officer. “We are now fully focused on what we do best – connecting buyers and sellers that share our passion for delivering exceptional travel experiences. We are also embracing our strengths – our agility, our independence and our ability to make the bold long-term decisions needed to simplify travel’s complex ecosystem. Our new brand reflects all this – who we’ve become, through our investments in the right people, products and technology and our vision for the future, as we get ready for a year of significant advances for Travelport. We’re proud to show it to the world today and are looking forward to following it up very soon with the launch our next-generation platform, which will change the game in travel retailing.” “This is a holistic rebrand”, said Catto. “While we’ve kept the essence of what makes Travelport great, we’ve refined our vision, what we stand for, how we act, how we look and how we market our business. Most importantly, this is a new promise we’re making to our customers; we’ll work harder for you than anyone else to build a better, simpler and smarter future for travel retailing.” Travelport’s new visual identity can already be seen on its website and social media channels, which now include Instagram. The full rebrand of all assets, including products and office spaces, will be completed in the coming months.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) KrisConnect program, Travelport, a leading technology company serving the global travel industry and SIA have welcomed on board their first passengers whose tickets were booked using NDC technology. Star Cruise Travel Services, one of Travelport’s partner agencies for the implementation of NDC capability, made the NDC bookings through Smartpoint, Travelport’s agency desktop solution. The passengers took international flights, arriving into Singapore Changi Airport in early November 2020. “This is an important milestone for our industry and our partnership with Singapore Airlines as they work to leverage IATA’s New Distribution Capability (NDC),” said Kyle Moore, Head of Customer Strategy at Travelport. “We are grateful to our partner agencies for working with us as we bring this new technology to our customers.” “Singapore Airlines is pleased to be working closely with Travelport on our KrisConnect program. By leveraging new technology, SIA and our partners can better meet the evolving expectations of our customers. Expectations about how, where and when they can access information, their ability to quickly and efficiently execute desired actions, and the demand for greater personalization, are all influenced by their experience with companies beyond the travel sector. The KrisConnect Program, and the technology upon which it sits, is key to meeting those expectations, and SIA is pleased to be leading the change in Asia. This milestone achievement with Travelport is critical in ensuring the program’s success.” said Bryan Koh, Divisional Vice President E-Commerce and Distribution, Singapore Airlines. “NDC Booking is made easy via Travelport Smartpoint. We are now able to access more content and offers, all in a single workflow, maintaining our efficiency.” Said Lynn Ong, Assistant Vice President, Star Cruise Travel Services. ATPI International Board …

Travelport announced the renewal of a multi-year content agreement with Korean Air, the country’s largest airline and national carrier.Under the agreement, Travelport will continue to provide Korean Air’s content and inventory to more than 68,000 Travelport-connected agencies around the world, enabling them to search, sell and book the airline’s fares. Kenneth Chang, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Korean Air, commented, “As travel recovers, Korean Air fully intends to be leading the way. Our partnership with Travelport has proven itself many times over, and its global network remains a cornerstone of our plans for international growth.” Sue Carter, Head of Asia Pacific, Air Partners at Travelport, added, “We’re extremely pleased to continue supporting Korean Air’s ambitions to be a global aviation leader with our technology solutions. Taking advantage of cutting-edge advancements like New Distribution Capability will be crucial for airlines to lead in a world of heightened traveller expectations, and we look forward to further extending our support with Korean Air in time to come.” In addition to providing Korean Air content to travel agencies around the world, Travelport is also supporting Korean Air’s organization-wide digital transformation with its Data and Business Intelligence, as well as Airline Insight solutions. These tools provide timely analysis and insights which help airlines recognise and respond to market trends swiftly. A founding member of the SkyTeam airline alliance, Korean Air was recently rated one of the top three airlines in the world in the 2020 Tripadvisor Travelers’ Choice Awards for Airlines.