Tag Archives: Travelport

Travelport had a record-breaking January for fare shopping, with unprecedented year-on-year (YoY) percentage increases in peak (one-day) shopping rate messages per second and in overall 24-hour message volumes. A 77 per cent YoY increase was recorded in peak shopping rate messages per second as compared to the highest similar peak day in January 2017. For total shopping message volumes received during a single 24-hour period, Travelport recorded a 79 per cent YoY increase compared to the highest such single-day volume in January 2017. Travelport recorded a 169% increase in peak shopping rate messages per second from the highest recorded day in January 2017 compared to the highest similar peak day in January 2016. For total shopping message volumes received during a single 24-hour period, Travelport saw a 161 per cent increase compared to the highest such single-day volume in January 2016. Travelport’s most recent numbers show that the company processed some 2.4 trillion shopping transactions during 2017 and prices six billion-plus unique itineraries every day.

Having achieved the milestone of 250 carriers, Travelport has now extended its leading position in airline merchandising by offering richer content to five times as many airlines as its nearest competitor. Travelport announced that over 250 airlines now benefit from its Rich Content and Branding merchandising tool which gives agencies and travel bookers a graphically rich experience when booking branded fares and ancillaries. Launched in 2014, Rich Content and Branding allows network airlines and low-cost carriers to differentiate themselves through ls and detailed descriptions of their products and services. Airlines benefiting from branded fares and ancillaries include IndiGo, Lufthansa, British Airways, Air France/KLM, Iberia and low-cost airlines such as Mango Airlines, Aegean, Ryanair and Loganair. Major airlines currently or soon offering access to their branded fares through Rich Content and Branding include China Southern Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Etihad Airways, Emirates, Norwegian, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) and Avianca. In addition, Etihad Airways and Jetstar are introducing no-bag fares on long-haul routes, a development fully supported by Travelport’s new tool.

Travelport signed an agreement with Fiji Airways, a South Pacific airline where the former will provide the airline with a mobile application powered by its new Travelport Fusion product. Travelport Fusion is a quick-to-market mobile solution that helps airlines keep up with the rapid changes in mobile technology. The new mobile app will provide Fiji Airways with a robust tool, providing an engaging experience for travellers. It will allow Fiji Airways to fully maintain their brand identity with consistent brand experience. As part of the service and support from Travelport, Fiji Airways will also benefit from future product upgrades. Marc Cavaliere, Chief Commercial Officer, Fiji Airways, commented, “We recognise the importance of mobile engagement and being able to connect with our customers, bringing them highly relevant, personalised information and services they need, at every step of their journey. Travelport Fusion allows us to implement this mobile app rapidly.” A recent Travelport Global Digital Traveler Research report highlighted the need for a strong airline mobile app solution with findings indicating that 64 per cent of travellers in Asia Pacific look for a good digital experience while choosing an airline.

Travelport announced the signing of a new, extended agreement with IATI Travel, based in Turkey. Travelport will support its operations while extending the geographical reach of the partnership to cover Germany, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. The company’s high performance is powered by Travelport Universal API (uAPI) technology. This aggregates the most comprehensive content from multiple sources, including national and low-cost carriers, branded fares and ancillary services, as well as unique hotel properties, rail and car rental. Levent Aydın, Chairman of the Board, IATI, said, “We are impressed by Travelport’s customer-driven solution which provides highly efficient tools for our agents. We are pleased to have Travelport as our preferred technology partner and have great confidence in its extensive reach and expertise.” Rabih Saab, President and Managing Director, Europe, Africa, Middle East and South Asia, Travelport added: “We are delighted to support the fastest growing OTA in Turkey as it continues its global expansion. Our partnership with IATI has flourished since 2012 and we are looking to further power its success and expansion across new territories.”

Travelport announced a new global agreement with Al Tayyar Travel Group. As a result of this multi-year agreement with Travelport, Al Tayyar and its subsidiaries will continue to use Travelport’s open platform and benefit from its Universal API technology. This enables the Group’s agencies to develop and connect their systems to the widest choice of content and provide the integrated, personalized travel experiences that the connected traveller of today demands. Travelport’s industry leading point of sale tool, Travelport Smartpoint, also helps Al Tayyar’s agencies optimize services and develop their business globally. Commenting on the renewed agreement, Mr. Abdullah bin Nasser Al Dawood, Chief Executive Officer & Board Director at Al Tayyar Travel Group, said: “The renewal of our agreement with Travelport demonstrates our commitment to serve the end traveler even better, by providing our agency partners with a rich choice of content.  We are delighted to continue building on the success we have enjoyed already from this fruitful partnership as we continue to develop our business.” Gordon Wilson, President and CEO of Travelport, added: “We are delighted that Al Tayyar Travel Group has chosen our platform once again to drive its agencies’ effectiveness and global expansion. The Group is a great partner and an impressive user of our technology. So, we are proud to play a major role in supporting its goals.”

Travelport hosted a two-day conference to provide insight into emerging new trends in the market and future of the sector with AI technology at Shangri-La, Oman. Over 230 customers from 14 countries attended the event. Kathryn Wallington, Country Manager, UAE Travelport welcomed the guests and explained the interactive opportunities at the conference. In his opening remarks, Matthew Powell, Managing Director, Middle East and South Asia, Travelport explained that Travelport had transformed from a regular GDS to a travel commerce and distribution platform to enable more opportunities in their portfolio. He reiterated how their platform enabled travel providers and their evolving technologies to deliver relevant content for travel buyers and consumers. He also spoke of how the platform provided new tools and solutions to customers and created a frictionless path to work with speed and accuracy, automated operations and the latest B2B travel payments. He reiterated that there was an expected opportunity of $8.6 billion in mobile travel sales in Middle East and India by 2022.

Travelport partners with Groundspan to introduce the fully integrated ground transportation solution, Travelport Drive Me. Designed to be the fastest and the most efficient way to book ground transportation services, Drive Me revolutionises car bookings to deliver a seamless experience to travellers. It provides options for travellers who desire a high-quality, personalised and reliable car transfer service experience across their journey. Powered by Groundspan’s global network of over 5,000 car service providers with professional drivers, Travelport Drive Me enables Travelport Smartpoint connected travel agents to seamlessly manage ground transportation, just as they book flights, hotel accommodation or car rental.

Travelport announced the launch of a new mobile app, Travelport Fusion, for airlines that can work across all host systems in response to the growing need to meet the expectations of today’s mobile-first customer. The new product gives airlines end-to-end trip engagement via mobile, allowing them to develop more valuable and lasting relationships with their customers. For airlines who need highly customized mobile solutions adapted to their specific digital roadmap, Travelport Digital will continue to offer its unique and proven blend of market leading design, agile delivery and mobile customer engagement solutions. The first release of Travelport Fusion will include a rich set of features such as mobile search, booking, check-in, boarding, passport scanning, day of travel assistance, itinerary management and real-time flight alerts.Commenting on the launch of Travelport Fusion, Fergal Kelly, CCO of Travelport Digital in Dublin stated “While we will continue to offer bespoke, high-end solutions as we have always done, Fusion is ideal for a wider market of airlines who now wish to move quickly on mobile.”

Travelport recently announced a multi-year agreement with Mezoon International Travel & Tours (MITT), an affiliate of BCD Travel and one of the largest travel agencies in the Sultanate of Oman. With this agreement, MITT will have access to Travelport’s unrivalled travel content and benefit from its intelligent, fast and accurate search and booking facility to offer its customers information of more than 400 airlines, including low-cost and network carriers, more than 650,000 hotel properties and more than 37,000 car rental locations around the world. MITT can also take advantage of Travelport Smartpoint as its agency desktop to search beyond rates and availability to book a more personalised and tailored travel for its customers, work smarter and subsequently, increase revenues. Riyaz Kuttery, Chief Operating Officer, MITT, commented, “We are delighted by this agreement and look forward to benefitting from Travelport’s content and merchandising capabilities. Travellers have been increasingly expecting more choice and personalization when booking travel and Travelport’s customer-centric technology will enable us to deliver better quality service as well as give our business a continuing opportunity to grow.” Matt Powell, Managing Director, Middle East and South Asia, Travelport, added, “Travelport welcomes one of the Middle East’s leading travel agencies as our newest partner in the region. To maintain their leadership in today’s competitive world of travel, Mezoon needs access to both extensive global travel choice as well as the very best travel booking technology, and this has remained our focus and an area in which we have continued to invest and lead.”

Travelport and Indian hotel chain Treebo Hotels have announced a partnership, the inaugural GDS deal for the hotel chain. Headquartered in Bangalore, Treebo Hotels operate across over 34 Indian cities. Under the debut agreement, Treebo Hotels will join over 650,000 unique hotel properties available through Travelport’s Travel Commerce Platform and its distributor in India, ITQ. Enabling Indian and International corporate travelers and travel agencies in over 180 countries, to have real-time access to the chain’s full property inventory. Travelport-connected agencies across the globe will now be able to take advantage of Travelport Smartpoint to search, view and make booking decisions based on travel choice information beyond just rate and availability. Sidharth Gupta, Co-Founder of Treebo Hotels said, “We are delighted for striking our inaugural GDS partnership with Travelport and its recognized distributor in India, ITQ. We are confident that this collaboration will empower Travelport-connected agents to choose quality accommodation from across Treebo properties in India during their business visits across major cities and will significantly support our business expand its presence across the globe.” Niklas Andreen, Vice President and Managing Director, Global Hospitality Commerce at Travelport commented: “We are excited to partner with Treebo Hotels, one of India’s key hotel suppliers and our collaboration with Treebo Hotels will help further establish their position within India’s budget accommodation space. Their wide variety of destinations, accommodation types and price ranges greatly enriches Travelport’s unrivalled choice of global travel content; providing agents and partner companies with countless opportunities to check availability of inventory and make bookings.”