Amadeus to Scale Up Its New Distribution Effort in 2021 Starting in Asia
Photo Credit: Young Asian traveler with mask socially distancing at an airport. Adobe
Skift Take
It's a fascinating question whether airlines and travel agencies will be able to keep pushing forward on modernizing the sector's tech. But Amadeus aims to press on with its part in the process.
Amadeus believes a new approach to airline distribution will move from an intriguing experiment to an everyday tool for some travel agencies next year.
The travel technology giant aims to widen the industrial adoption of new ways to send data, new workflows for travel agents, and new commercial terms for ticketing. It will test the effort with some agencies in Asia Pacific this year, with a plan to speed up a worldwide rollout in 2021.
Some industry dissenters have said these new distribution approaches haven't measured up to their promise for agencies yet. Others have suggested that furloughs and revenue cuts due to the pandemic will delay progress.
Airlines have lobbied for years for the creation of the new standards for how industry computers talk to one another, which they have said would enhance airline abilities to sell rich content and ancillaries to agencies and travelers. But finger-pointing over who should pay for the necessary investment and other restraints have hi
