Star Alliance member carriers seek legal and regulatory clarification on proposed content sharing by GDS

The Star Alliance member carriers are seeking both legal and regulatory clarification on the recently announced content sharing deal between two of the world’s four largest Global Distribution Systems (GDS), Amadeus and Sabre.

Commenting on the proposed content sharing, Jaan Albrecht, Star Alliance CEO said, “We are surprised that two GDS are allowed to co-operate in such a manner in a market which already lacks any real competition. We fully support our members in seeking legal and regulatory advice as well as clarification of the practical implications of this announcement and continue to press ahead with our already commenced ACAP project.”

As one of the alliance’s major cost-down initiatives, the ACAP (Alternative Content Access Platform) project is aimed at cutting the more than 2 billion US Dollars which the 18 member carriers spend annual on GDS fees. Star Alliance has currently signed up three vendors – G2 Switchworks, ITA Software and Lufthansa Systems – who are presently developing the new systems.

See also: American Airlines Questions GDS Content Sharing

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