Amadeus sets its sights on becoming the IT leader for the travel industry by 2010

In his address at the Latin American Leaders Forum, hosted recently by AITAL (International Air Transport Association of Latin America), José Antonio Tazón, President and CEO of Amadeus, said, "We want to be the world's top IT service provider for the travel industry. I say travel as a whole, as I am not referring exclusively to airlines, but to all the segments of this challenging and exciting industry we belong to. We will be the leader by 2010 because we have the industry’s best IT service offering". 

Before an audience of 400 airline providers, CEOs and Presidents of Latin American airlines gathered in Miami, Amadeus' President and CEO began his address on IT/Distribution by thanking the organisers for having invited him, "as historically, GDSs are not given the opportunity to explain how, and to what extent, they have contributed to this industry".

“There are two types of distribution - direct and indirect, and GDSs are the vehicle driving any indirect scheme, be it online or offline. It is true that in some cases, GDS fees are significant if compared with the value of the tickets processed. Although this was based on the original business model of the GDS industry, Amadeus was first to address this issue in 2004 when we introduced a pioneering pricing model with fees based on the added value we create for airlines", he explained.

"Several times during this forum, you have referred to e-ticketing and its impact on the industry's efficiency. GDSs are – amongst others - the greatest contributors to driving e-ticketing adoption. Despite competition, Amadeus is the number one e-ticketing provider, and this translates into industry efficiency", he added.

Today, travel agencies can issue e-tickets in 116 countries and with 116 airlines. Amadeus was chosen by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) as a preferred partner in its endeavour to achieve ticketless travel by 2007.

"Year after year, we have improved each and every functionality. We have leveraged the power of the Internet and made it available for the travel industry with a range of highly-efficient and competitively-priced solutions. Since its creation we have not seen any airline rejecting being part of the Amadeus System".

José Antonio Tazón also said the Amadeus System "is the airline industry's most used system. Nobody can compete with our services or our rates. Our volume allows for unmatched economies of scale. Here lies our contribution to this competitive industry. Nobody mentions this when addressing the GDS industry, but this is our two cents worth, our contribution".

"As you all know, we have added airline IT to our services through the Amadeus Altéa Customer Management Solution, as it makes sense to complement our offer with the direct channel: a unique interface between the airline and the world. As inventory management was not handled in the most efficient way, we developed functionalities and enhanced features, using the most flexible open technology: back in 2000, we took on the challenge, and today leading airlines from all the alliances are using our integrated services platform, which enables them to efficiently manage their inventories and bookings, as well as passenger check-in.

"When we talk IT, we obviously must think about airline alliances and, more importantly, respond to key issues as an IT service provider: what is the business model of a specific airline or carrier and how can we better serve it? Is it going to be a full-service model, a hybrid model or a low-cost model? This implies providing flexibility and the right value-proposition in our IT services to ensure success for our airline customers.

"When we set out to become the leader, these were the issues we addressed and today, I have mentioned some of the answers we have found. Today we have the best offering and we are absolutely set to become the leading IT provider for the travel industry", José Antonio Tazón concluded.

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