Amadeus Isn't Seeing a Significant Pickup in Airline Ticket Sales Yet

Amadeus is the world's largest provider of ticket distribution and operational software for airlines. So if you're looking for flickers of optimism about a recovery in travel — especially in the corporate travel and international leisure travel segments that Amadeus specializes in handling — you will be disappointed in the numbers it reported as part of its financial filings on Friday.

The volumes of tickets that Amadeus processed for travel agencies in the first half of July were almost no better than it handled either in the first or last halves of June. Amadeus travel agency air bookings in the first half of July contracted by around 95 percent year-over-year, compared to the same period in 2019. The company had a corresponding percentage decline in bookings in the first half and the second half of June 2020.

Compared with May, things were a little better, but the reduction in awfulness was modest. The first half of July's performance was about