MADRID -- Amadeus invested about $52.7 million in Opodo, the
European network of travel sites that's owned by nine European
carriers.
The investment gives GDS company a 16.7% stake in Opodo, which
launched its first site www.opodo.de in Germany in November 2001.
Amadeus already powers Opodo's Germany, France and U.K. sites
with Amadeus' online booking engine, e-Travel Planitgo.
Amadeus said it invested the money in Opodo to hone its tech
expertise and to gain additional experience in the online travel
market.
Amadeus said the European online travel market is expected to
grow from $4.5 billion in 2001 to $22.1 billion by 2006.