Articles tagged “amadeus”

After years of being stuck in the past, new "smart" airports are embracing technology and data to improve the experience for both passengers and vendors. But progress is still slow, widening the gap between cutting-edge and archaic facilities. What's needed? More vision, less bureaucracy.

A few months ago, activist investor Elliott Management took Amadeus rival Travelport private. Elliott also happens to be the largest shareholder of Whitbread, the parent company of Premier Inn. That hotel chain has now dropped its contract with Amadeus for software services. Coincidence?

Venture capitalists are turning their sights on airline distribution. Duffel's backing by VC firms Index and Benchmark brings hope to the sector. New ideas and technologies may help create more efficient and user-friendly ways for travel agencies to access airline data to sell tickets and other products.

New deals mean that offline and online travel agencies will more quickly and commonly see richly descriptive details about what any given airfare includes, such as facts about legroom and photos of premium class seats. But don't hold your breath in anticipation. Travel sellers have to wait another five years before next-gen selling will become the norm for agents.

We can shop for TVs and clothes on our phone, but booking flights remains stubbornly old school. Skyscanner is one of a few online players working with airlines to fix that.

Basically, airlines, travel management companies, and global distribution systems need to do a better job at working together if so-called New Distribution Capability is going to live up to its potential.

New distribution technology has a lot of potential to improve booking for business travelers, but first airlines are going to have to make some compromises.

A British Airways hiccup earlier this month was merely the latest tech outage at a number of airlines. Why does the industry suffer from so many glitches? Experts point to some deeper reasons beyond the commonly heard "old tech" explanation.

Amadeus deserves credit for making strides in reducing its dependence on its original core business of airline distribution. Few companies in any industry succeed in diversifying. But work remains to be done. Plus, the company may not be doing enough to capture Asia's potential as a market.

Amadeus’ Luis Maroto came out on top in 2018. His executive compensation is appropriate, given that the company is the most valuable European travel firm.