Articles tagged “new distribution capability”

Lufthansa Group may have done more than any other airline group to aggravate Amadeus, Travelport, and especially Sabre in recent years. Yet a grudging truce in the distribution battle may be possible, according to this exclusive interview with a top executive.

Airlines are flying in different directions in the distribution debate. Travelport's deal with Singapore Airlines offers a middle ground between Lufthansa's hardline approach and Air France's cuddlier one.

For years, airlines, travel agencies, and their technology partners acknowledged they could adopt more modern ways of selling plane tickets. The sticking point lately has been less technological than commercial. Thursday's deal is a seismic moment serving as a model for how the sector might afford to transition to the future.

It's ironic that new distribution capabilities got to the cusp of becoming real at the precise moment everyone stopped booking flights.

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.

The juries are still out over whether airlines and the global distribution systems will kiss and make up soon. Corporate travel agencies will be hoping it won't be much longer though, otherwise some may face the prospect of having to explain higher airfares to their clients.

Vista, the investor behind this merger of airline tech vendors Accelya and Farelogix, is no private equity tourist. The firm has committed tens of billions to technology businesses, and it shows signs of having the wherewithal to grow Accelya into a long-term player in airline tech services.

We read the 100-page rulings on the proposed merger of Sabre and Farelogix so you don't have to. Airlines want to take over a lot of the tech work from Sabre and its rivals and pay travel agencies directly for bookings. American Airlines says the new model has already saved it millions. But the rulings found few tech vendors up to the task.

A crisis brings out either the best or worst in people. Technology is no different, and so-called New Distribution Capability could have a new lease of life.

Travel agencies can say goodbye to old-school excel spreadsheets and paper agreements for keeping track of airfare sales. Today, digitalization provides a much easier and powerful tool to manage incentive and commission contracts with airlines.