Travelport on Tuesday lost its motion for a temporary injunction against American Airlines’ move to terminate its business with online travel agency Orbitz from Dec. 1. Travelport owns 48% of Orbitz.
The ruling was made by Judge Martin Agran in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Ill.
"We remained confident that we would prevail once all of the facts were considered and applaud the court's decision to dissolve the temporary restraining order," said AA spokesman Ryan Mikolasik. "In today’s competitive marketplace, it is important for American to be free to customize its product offerings to improve the customer experience as well as distribute its products in a way that does not result in unnecessary costs."
In a statement, Travelport said, "Although the motion for a preliminary injunction was denied, the case will continue on its merits until the request for a declaratory judgment is adjudicated. Travelport remains confident that it will ultimately prevail on the merits of the matter."
Orbitz says it will continue to seek an arrangement with AA to distribute American’s tickets on Orbitz.com and Orbitz for Business.
"It is unfortunate that as of Dec. 21, American Airlines flights will no longer be available on our Orbitz.com and Orbitz for Business sites," said Orbitz in a statement.
Revenue earned on AA’s tickets and the associated ancillary products (including destination services, car, hotel and insurance) booked on Orbitz.com and Orbitz for Business accounted for approximately 5% of Orbitz Worldwide’s total revenue for the nine months ended Sept. 30, Orbitz said.
"In the near term, we believe that if American Airlines removes its flights from our websites, most of the impacted ticket volume will be replaced by other suppliers, and we will continue to earn most of the associated ancillary revenue," Orbitz said.
AA had said previously it was exercising a contractual provision to terminate the Orbitz deal because the terms and Orbitz’s technology were inefficient and outdated.
At the time, Travelport maintained that American’s plan to bypass Orbitz would not only be in contravention of the two parties’ full-content agreement, it would also be even more inefficient and deprive passengers of a full range of travel choices.
In recent weeks, the battle between AA and Travelport has intensified with the former levying a surcharge from Dec. 20 on agencies ticketing through Travelport’s Worldspan and Galileo GDSs to cover the "arbitrarily increased" booking fees levied by Travelport for AA flights, said American.