European Commission Is Probing Travel Distribution Systems for Anticompetitive Practices

First the European Commission went after Google, and now it has two of the world's largest providers of airline distribution services — Amadeus and Sabre — in its sights. The European Union's competition watchdog has launched a probe of Amadeus, based in Madrid, and Sabre, based in Southlake, Texas, to gauge whether their contracts with airlines and travel agencies have illegally inhibited competition — with the effect of inflating airfares and hurting consumers. "The commission will investigate whether certain terms in Amadeus' and Sabre's agreements with airlines and travel agents may restrict the ability of airlines and travel agents to use alternative suppliers of ticket distribution services," a European Commission statement said. "This may make it harder for suppliers of new ticket distribution services to enter the market, as well as increase distribution costs for airlines, which are ultimately passed on in the ticket prices paid by consumers." The commission has the authority to slap fines of up to 10 percent of a company’s global revenue for violating European Union regulations. Amadeus and Sabre denied wrongdoing. Investors seemed only modestly alarmed, given that they merely knocked less than 2 percent off the share price of Amadeus after the Friday announcement — and Sabre's stock saw no impact. The commission's statement left it uncl