Southwest Airlines Poised for Big Move to Amadeus Reservations System
Photo Credit: Once implemented, Southwest Airlines will be Amadeus’ largest airline IT partner worldwide in terms of passengers boarded. Southwest
Skift Take
More than 20,000 Southwest workers have been trained on the new system, which will let the airline fly red-eyes and make other schedule changes. Meanwhile, if the switch goes smoothly, Amadeus will find it easier to sell systems to other carriers.
On Tuesday, Southwest Airlines is scheduled to move to Amadeus's reservations systems for its domestic passengers, having already moved its international routes onto Amadeus' Altéa platform.
Once implemented, Southwest will be the largest airline IT partner worldwide in "passengers boarded" for Madrid-based travel technology company Amadeus, which says it has more than 100 airlines using its system.
If the migration is successful, it will be a huge calling card for Amadeus to try to get more business in North America, where it has little market share relative to its rivals. Back in 2011, Amadeus lost United Airlines when then airline was not sufficiently impressed with the Amadeus Altéa platform to proceed with a migration onto it.
Southwest is training 20,000 employees on the platform. The process has been happening in stages for months.
On Tuesday, the plan is that the old system — a quilt work of
