BCD and Amex GBT Lead the Corporate Travel Market 'By Far,' UK Regulator Reveals

Travel management companies are notoriously secretive about contract wins, but the UK Competition and Markets Authority shared the broad outlines of which companies are competing for and winning the most corporate travel transaction volumes.

"The bidding data confirms that BCD and GBT are the two strongest competitors in the market, by far, and has also led us to provisionally conclude both are substantially stronger than CWT," the CMA stated.

The findings were part of an interim report released Tuesday on Amex GBT's pending $570 million acquisition of CWT. The regulator provisionally concluded that the deal wouldn't reduce competition, but it will release a final decision by March 9.

The report also noted the financial weakness of CWT, which declared bankruptcy in 2021.

And it found that FCM is a smaller, but material competitor in the corporate travel contract bidding process.

Two other travel management companies, CTM and Navan, also compete against the larger players for global corporate travel contracts worth more than $25 million, the report found, and both won market share in 2024 versus 2023.

Corporate Travel: A Competitive Marketplace

The CMA described a fairly competitive marketplace in corporate travel.

Using data from Amex GBT about bidding processes it was involved in from 2021-2023 for global corporate travel contracts with total transaction volumes worth at least $25 million, the CMA found that:

• BCD and CWT each won 10-20% of the total transaction volume, FCM was awarded 5-10%, and Navan and CTM each took home 0-5%. Meanwhile, travel management companies such as Spotnana, Blockskye, Kayak, and Gant Travel won 5-10% combined.

Using data from CWT about bidding processes it was involved in from 2021-2023 for global corporate travel contracts with total transaction volumes worth at least $25 million, the CMA found that:

• BCD won 40-50%, Amex GBT and FCM took home 10-20% each, CTM came out on top for 5-10%, and Navan won 0-5% of total transaction volume. All other travel management companies — "excluding smaller TMCs such as Amadeus" — came out on top for 0-5% of total transaction volumes combined.

The report also took a looked at travel management companies' total transaction volumes for 2024 versus 2023, and found that Amex GBT, BCD and FCM all saw 10-20% increases. However, Navan's total transaction volume jumped 30-40% while CTM's climbed 40-50%.

Of those travel management companies mentioned, only CWT saw a decline in 2024 versus the prior year. Its total transaction volume dipped 0-5%.

CWT's waning prospects are a chief reason the CMA is likely to approve the acquisition – the authority doesn't see the acquisition as dampening corporate travel competition.

A U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit to block the merger would still stand in the way of the deal's consummation.