Like Sabre,
Travelport reported an impact on the U.S. market from the three hurricanes that
hit parts of the country in August and September.
Speaking during the company's third-quarter earnings call,
CEO Gordon Wilson said the U.S. market was down about 7% in September.
"That was largely attributable to the awful hurricanes
that happened in the United States," he said.
Wilson said he believed the hurricanes affected global air
bookings by about 1%.
The storms' effect on bookings was influenced by two factors:
flight cancellations and re-accommodating passengers with affected plans.
"Obviously, that sucks out capacity in the marketplace,"
Wilson said.
He called the storms "more of a blip, and we're quite
happy with how we've seen the U.S. market perform through end of October,
November."
Wilson also said on the call that Travelport expects to
receive Level 3 New Distribution Capability (NDC) certification from IATA by
the end of 2017 or beginning of 2018. IATA offers three levels of NDC
certification, with Level 3 the highest. Travelport was the first GDS to
receive Level 1 certification, and is currently Level 2 certified.
"The NDC API will not replace or replicate many of the
vital capabilities that a platform such as ours provides to travel agencies,
and at the scale that we do it in," Wilson said.
Travelport reported a 78% drop in net income from $21.4
million last year to $5 million this year. The company attributed the decrease
to a $1 million decrease in operating income, a $13 million increase in its
provision for income taxes, and a $4 million increase in loss on early
extinguishment of debt.
The company's net revenue increased 3%, to $611 million,
largely due to an increase in Travel Commerce Platform revenue growth (air
revenue increased 2% and non-air revenue increased 11%).