Articles tagged “gdss”

If you think all airlines will lower their fees to encourage more bookings during the pandemic, think again.

It is likely back to square one for Travelport, which has tried to sell its hottest commodity, payments provider eNett, for years. It's possible another buyer may emerge, but at a price far below the $1.7 billion deal that the parties struck in a now-vaporized bygone era.

It's rare for airline contract disputes with distribution companies to reach this outcome. Finnair will suffer financially until it cuts a deal. Sabre, for its part, risks embarrassment if it's seen as bullying a midsize carrier. Nobody usually ends up winning in these classic games of chicken.

Sabre is engaged in a tough but necessary technology transition. Beyond the system outages it has experienced recently, some of the events impacting its financial results, namely the Jet Airways financial collapse and the Boeing 737 Max groundings, are beyond the company's control.

Is this all just posturing in negotiations between United and Expedia? It certainly could be but filing a lawsuit about it while a contract is in place takes things to a new level.

Few companies other than activist investor Elliott Management expressed a serious interest in acquiring Travelport. Elliott twice lost potential private equity partners after they reviewed Travelport's books. The deal price is underwhelming, and that's a signal that some things haven't been going the company's way.

When it comes to their debt, easyJet has a much more liquid position than Ryanair, while United and Delta have a lighter debt burden relatively speaking than American Airlines. In the event of a recession, debt loads would be one critical factor among many in hamstringing or contributing to a company's ability to maneuver.

As more business travelers view their trips as working vacations, travel advisors must draw on both corporate and leisure travel-planning skills. It's no simple challenge, but it's necessary given the strength of the bleisure travel trend.

It's anyone's guess whether travel distribution giants Amadeus and Sabre might have run afoul of the European Union's rules. But a look at the history of those companies' airline contracts provides clues as to what might be top of mind with investigators.

Over the years, the big global distribution systems have been a major barrier to innovation by airlines and travel startups, in particular. The European Commission now intends to take a serious look at this dynamic.