DALLAS -- Sabre and
Amadeus signed an agreement to provide airline content to one
another if a carrier opts to drop out of either.
The two distribution
systems, erstwhile competitors, agreed to funnel airline inventory
through their GDSs to their respective travel agency and corporate
customers if an airline drops out of Sabre or Amadeus.
The unprecedented
agreement between Sabre, the market-share leader in North America,
and Amadeus, is the first contract between the two
companies.
Heres how it works. If
American decides to drop out of Amadeus, then Amadeus could require
Sabre to make those flights available to Amadeus-connected agencies
and corporations through the Amadeus GDS.
In this example,
American would pay contractual booking fees to Sabre and a
commercial agreement between Sabre and Amadeus covers compensation
to Amadeus. Officials in both GDS companies said the bookings would
be seamless to their customers, who would continue to receive
incentives.
Without providing
details, Sabre and Amadeus stated that their airline participation
agreements allow them to carry out such a contract and that they
need no further authorization from airlines.
The global agreement
does not apply to airlines that participate in only one of the two
GDSs today.
The agreement was seen
as a hedge against airline threats to withhold flight inventory
from a GDS or two if the distributors dont agree to deep economic
concessions. It also puts pressure on Galileo and Worldspan, who
have not revealed any similar arrangements.
Also, start-up
distributors like G2 SwitchWorks and ITA Software have argued to
travel agencies that they would be ill-advised to sign long-term
contracts with the traditional GDSs because there was no guarantee
that they would have full content.
Sabre spokeswoman
Kathryn Hayden said it is unlikely the Amadeus-Sabre pact will have
to be implemented, implying that major airlines will retain their
commitments to GDS distribution.
However, she argued
that the agreement with Amadeus will bring stability to the
marketplace.
Meanwhile, Cara Kretz,
the vice president of marketing for ITA Software, said the
Amadeus-Sabre agreement doesnt blunt the companys efforts to
develop new distribution technologies. She added that ITA always
has argued that technology is an overriding issue and not just
economics.
This doesnt change
what we are doing to bring efficiency and value to the marketplace,
Kretz said.
To contact
reporter Dennis Schaal, send e-mail to[email protected].