Galileo seals strategic alliance with Et-China

Galileo International, a leading provider of electronic global distribution services (GDS) for the travel industry, today announced that it has entered into a strategic alliance with Et-China, a leader in China's travel technology sector and a recognised e-ticketing specialist. Galileo will support Et-China's  distribution of travel applications such as online booking and e-ticketing in the China market. 

Et-China, the first online travel agency in China to provide an airline booking capability, provides real-time online ticket reservation, online payment and ticket delivery services to corporate and high-end leisure travellers within and from China. With more than 200 corporate customers, including the Chinese subsidiaries of many leading global corporations, Et-China is now  the largest corporate travel service and solution provider in Southern China. Since it was founded in January 2000, Et-China has tripled its gross revenue each year on a compounded basis.

"We warmly welcome this opportunity to build a close relationship with one of China's best known online travel management and solution providers to help increase technology usage and improve overall efficiency in the China  travel market," said Janie Kaung, executive vice president and managing director of Galileo's Asia Pacific region.

"Galileo is committed to the China market and we believe Et-China is an industry leader that can play an active role in China's rapidly growing travel technology marketplace. This alliance presents many opportunities to work with Et-China and its partners to the benefit PRC airlines. E-ticketing is just one example of how Galileo and Et-China can leverage their respective expertise to benefit China." 

Et-China President and CEO, Matthew Chik-hui Ng, added: "Galileo has built a reputation as a global technology leader and it's a privilege to have this opportunity to share expertise. As the pioneer in global distribution services,  Galileo was doing 'e-business' before the term was coined and I'm confident Galileo and Et-China will be able to develop new e-business streams in the future to the benefit of the travel marketplace in China. Moreover, I expect this technology partnership will enable Et-China to work more closely with the Cendant group of companies for mutual benefit in the China market."

Recently, Et-China announced an exclusive e-ticketing sales and services joint venture with China Southern Airlines, the largest airline in China and one of Et-China's founding shareholders. This new joint venture extends Et-China and China Southern Airline's exclusive multi-year strategic alliance created in October 2000 and is expected to contribute RMB 1.6 billion -  equivalent to US$193 million, or approximately 10% - of China Southern's gross ticket sales in 2003.

Galileo has operated in China since 1995 through a strong relationship with  China's Travelsky reservation system. Galileo opened a representative office in Beijing in 1996 and concurrently announced the highest level of connectivity with China's major airlines. In 2002, Galileo added more airlines onto its link with Travelsky to become their largest provider of airlink functionality in China with 150 non-domestic airlines now booked through Galileo.