Tag Archives: Amadeus

Amadeus has agreed to acquire ICM Airport Technics, a global leader in passenger automation and self-service bag drop solutions for airports and airlines, for an undisclosed sum. Following this deal, Amadeus is now in a stronger position in this sector to drive future growth. Amadeus’ airport customers will now be able to enhance and improve their existing services to passengers whilst continuing to ensure passenger safety and security. ICM, headquartered in Sydney, specialises in the provision of passenger automation and self-service bag drop solutions for customers principally in APAC and Europe. Bruno Spada, Head of Airport IT, Amadeus says, “Often the passenger experience in airports is not a good one – long queues to check bags in and disparate services and technologies that do not always speak to each other. In essence, airports are crying out for open self-service solutions to help take the friction and hassle out of the airport experience for passengers. By combining Amadeus’ and ICM’s software and hardware capabilities, by accelerating and introducing more self-service options, and by using the power of biometrics, this deal announced today will ensure that together we can deliver better journeys for passengers in the future.” Richard Dinkelmann, CEO, ICM says, “By combining ICM’s market-leading self-service and passenger processing solutions with Amadeus’ global reach and complementary product offering, we are now in a unique position to offer even better technical solutions to our airline and airport customers.  We are excited about the future, as we share similar values such as strong innovation, reliability, and an uncompromising commitment to improving airport efficiency as well as passenger safety and security.” As part of the acquisition, approximately 150 ICM employees are expected to join Amadeus. ICM …

Amadeus says customer information was stolen from Resbird Technologies, its independent distributor in India, in January 2019. In a statement, the distribution giant says that while there was no “unauthorised access to the system,” a Resbird employee who had rights to access the systems had illegally taken information from a number of passenger name records (PNRs). The employee is then believed to have passed the information to a third party that specializes in SIM cards for mobile phones. According to the Amadeus statement, the PNR information included name, contact details and travel itineraries. In a small number of cases, it may also have included passport details. The information accessed came from India-based travel agents and involved only tickets issued in India. The statement says a number of actions have been taken, including the employment terminated for the person involved and a report filed with the police in India. It is not known how many records were accessed, but Amadeus felt it was large enough to file a report with the Spanish data protection authority. The company is also conducting a review of the data compromised, which goes back to the end of June 2018. It has also sent a “cease and desist letter” to the SIM card company for the stolen information to be returned or destroyed.

In a major setback to state-run Air India, the High Court of Punjab and Haryana has overruled the national carrier’s decision to shift domestic ticket-booking business exclusively on Travelport, asking it to continue using the services of Amadeus and others to book domestic and international flights. Air India had discontinued services of all other global distribution system (GDS) portals from December 5, 2018. The judgement of the HC read, “An interim direction is issued to Air India Limited to continue to allow using GDS of Travelport, Sabre and Amadeus, as was being used prior to Decemeber 4, 2018 and till further orders, Air India inventory will be made available to Amadeus also, as was being done prior to December 4, 2018.” The court has given Air India three weeks’ time to respond to the judgement with relevant documents. The court noted that under Article 12, the Air India was duty-bound to invite bids before giving exclusive rights to any agency for GDS. It is further contended that Air India was duty-bound to call bids in the form of tenders and that Amadeus could not be arbitrarily excluded from sale of tickets for domestic flights. Source: Moneycontrol  

Vistara and Amadeus have renewed a multi-year distribution agreement that guarantees Vistara’s travel agency partners’ continued access to the airline’s full range of fares and prices through Amadeus. Amadeus Airline Fare Families supports Vistara in making its branded fares, called Vistara Freedom Fares, available through the Amadeus distribution channel. Amadeus Fare Families will empower travel agents with clear, structured information they need to advise their customers and proactively upsell from one fare family to the other based on each traveller’s needs and preferences. Vistara will also be looking at integrating ancillary services in the future as part of their product offerings. This partnership will enable Vistara to further grow its customer base by continuing to connect to travellers globally through the world’s largest community of travel sellers and buyers. By connecting to Amadeus’ innovative travel platform, Vistara is able to define and deliver enhanced offers, including rich content, to travel agents and travellers. The airline is also now able to differentiate its travel offers beyond just price, while ensuring that agencies and travellers have all the information at hand in order to make the right purchasing decisions. Sanjiv Kapoor, Chief Strategy & Commercial Officer, Vistara, commented, “We are pleased to continue our successful partnership with Amadeus. Travel agencies are a key part of our strategy to serve our customers through the channel of their choice, both in India and internationally. With the new agreement, we will have access to Amadeus’ global travel agency network which has the widest reach of travellers globally and this is a significant agreement in our growth strategy.” Cyril Tetaz, Executive Vice President — Airlines, Amadeus, Asia Pacific, said, “We’re very proud to be able to …

Almost half of Indian travellers (48 per cent) book their accommodation in advance of their flight or transportation, compared to an APAC average of 35 per cent, a report titled ‘Amadeus journey of Me Insights — What Asia Pacific travellers want’ reveals. According to the report, only 15 per cent wait until after they have booked their flight but before departure, compared to 27 per cent regionally. Also, 34 per cent Indians book their accommodation at the same time when they book flight/transport. Only 15 per cent book their accommodation after their flight/transport is booked, but before departure. On the contrary, per cent APAC travellers book their accommodation after booking their flight/transport, but before departure. The report also suggests that 3 per cent Indian travellers book their accommodation after reaching the destination, as compared to 2 per cent APAC travellers.

Travel conglomerate Amadeus announced the creation of a programme to drive the industrialisation of New Distribution Capability (NDC) and ensured its success for all travel players at an event held recently in New Delhi. NDC is a new XML-based interface that enables travel companies – from airlines to travel agencies – to evolve travel distribution and merchandising. Deliberating on ‘The Impact of NDC On Air Content Distribution’, Champa Magesh, Vice President, Asia-Pacific, Retail Travel Channels, said, “At Amadeus, we recognise that we have a responsibility to make NDC work for all travel players, and that’s what we will be doing through our NDC-X programme. Our aim is to create better journeys for travellers through the best use of technology, and this transversal programme will work with our travel seller and airline customers to deliver just that”. She also informed that the shifting nature of business travel requires corporations and TMCs to adapt to a world which is more dynamic and agile. Commenting on NDC and the product portfolio showcased, Rakesh Bansal, Chief Executive Officer, Amadeus Indian Subcontinent, said, “To keep up with the dynamically evolving industry and its multifarious demands, it is essential to constantly innovate and evolve, become more agile and connected.  We have to embrace change and ensure that technology and solutions work well for all stakeholders. That is exactly what Amadeus NDC- X aspires to do. Being the leading global distribution services provider in Asia Pacific, products and solutions offer effective and efficient variety of solutions that help in generating additional revenue and improving productivity and efficiency for travel agencies thus reducing costs.”

With regard to the personalisation-privacy paradox, 64 per cent of Asia Pacific travellers interviewed are open to sharing personal data for more relevant offers and personalised experiences, according to Amadeus’ Journey of Me Insights report. Somewhat more cautious, 71 per cent of Indian travellers feel the same. In the face of rising privacy concerns, some boundaries must be maintained and at all times travel providers must respect and protect personal data and the need for privacy. And above and beyond adhering to legislation, travel players must be able to articulate ‘what’s the value?’ to get travellers to share their data. From when and how Indian travellers plan and book their trips, to how and why they want to stay connected while travelling, to how frequently they use sharing economy services, and the types of new technologies they would be most interested in, the study takes a multi-faceted look at what Indian travellers want.

Amadeus has partnered with Wingify to offer Online Travel Agents (OTAs) customers access to Visual Website Optimiser (VWO), the company’s A/B testing and conversion optimisation platform. The platform helps customers analyse how consumers interact with their website and make data-driven decisions. This will help improve conversion rates at every touch point within their travel website and ultimately optimise the look-to-book ratio, a crucial part in securing more bookings through their site. Today, online travel is bigger than ever, with 148.3 million travel bookings made over the Internet each year.  India-based Wingify is one of the world’s top three software providers that specialise in A/B testing and conversion optimisation. A/B testing is a process that compares two versions of a webpage to determine which one performs better for a defined conversion goal. VWO, Wingify’s A/B testing and conversion optimisation platform, has been used in various use cases, delivering strong results to organisations across diverse industries including Virgin Holidays, KPMG, Samsung and Toyota. Sparsh Gupta, CTO of VWO, said, “Website testing and optimisation can be a significant differentiator for companies in highly competitive markets, such as the travel industry in Asia Pacific. An A/B testing and optimisation programme helps OTAs get a better understanding of how consumers engage with their websites, so businesses can pinpoint where customers are dropping off along the online purchasing journey. By using the insights and proven statistical results to address the leaks and improve their websites, businesses can see returns in the form of higher conversion rates and increased revenue.” Sebastien Gibergues, Global Head of Online Travel at Amadeus, said, “We are committed to adding greater business value for our OTA customers, by equipping them with the …

Amadeus has renewed its distribution agreement with AccorHotels for another three years to ensure that the hotel’s full inventory is made available to Amadeus-connected travel agencies and travellers worldwide. AccorHotels covers all market segments, from economy to luxury accommodation, and Amadeus currently exclusively distributes ibis Budget hotels, AccorHotels’ benchmark budget brand and a European leader in its category. Comfortable, no frills accommodation is increasingly relevant for both leisure and business travellers, and Amadeus currently distributes 150 Ibis Budget properties, with more soon to become available.“The industry is dramatically changing due to the growth of large online players, so hoteliers now more than ever need to retain ownership over their distribution strategy. In response to this, we have seen an increase in demand from hoteliers to distribute their hotel inventory through the GDS channel,” says Peter Waters, Director, Hotel Distribution at Amadeus. “We are delighted to renew the distribution agreement with AccorHotels and look forward to supporting them meet the needs of both business and leisure travellers.”

Amadeus has recently announced its B2B Wallet Prepaid product for the travel agents. To this end, Amadeus is partnering with MasterCard to offer travel agencies payment acceptance and security around the globe, as well as better protection against supplier default when using B2B Wallet. Amadeus’ solution will build on MasterCard’s vast global network to expand virtual B2B payments in travel. Amadeus is also partnering with Ixaris to drive efficient virtual card management on B2B Wallet. With its innovative payments technology, Ixaris allows travel agents to easily create and add funds to their virtual payment cards. “Virtual card technology is the ideal application of Fintech innovation for the travel industry. By combining the strengths of Amadeus, MasterCard and Ixaris, we bring flexibility, efficiency and confidence to travel agent B2B payments. Since we launched the product in some markets in February we have seen overwhelming demand for it and today have customers in 10 European countries,” said Celia Pereiro, Head-Travel Payments, Amadeus. The Amadeus B2B Wallet will be gradually rolled out in select Asia Pacific markets in 2017 to bring travel agencies a virtual payments product with the option of either earning or saving cash when paying travel providers. Hany Fam, President, MasterCard Enterprise Partnerships, says, “With our global acceptance, advanced security and automatic consolidation, Amadeus B2B Wallet gives travel agencies a host of reasons to leave cash, checks and other payment mechanisms behind, saving time and money.”