Court papers show that American Airlines has won a significant amount of money from Travelport, both in direct payments and millions of dollars of retroactively reduced booking fees.
The two companies announced last month that they settled their legal differences and signed a new full-content deal, but released no details of that settlement.
However the extent of American’s victory over Travelport in the airline’s antitrust suit against the GDS became clearer when parts of that settlement were filed with the court overseeing American’s bankruptcy.
Court papers show that Travelport will pay American an unspecified amount of money over the next several years — just as Sabre agreed to pay American an unspecified amount when those two companies settled their legal disputes out of court in December.
Although that amount was never explicitly stated, it appears to be $280 million, a dollar figure in AMR's fourth-quarter earnings report described as the benefit of the settlement of a commercial dispute. (AMR is the parent of American Airlines.)
Travelport will start paying American a series of settlement fees over the next several years.
Additionally, American will be able to implement its direct-connect technology to all of Travelport’s subscribers.
According to court papers, a retroactive reduction of booking fees will save American “the approximately $7 million in booking fees that it has paid to Travelport since Jan. 15, 2013, as well as the fees it would have to pay going forward.”
Follow Kate Rice on Twitter @krtravelweekly.