Popular GDS Amadeus and national Air India and national carrier have once again joined hands and signed a new distribution agreement. Air India had severed its three-decade-long distribution tie-up with the technology partner, Amadeus in late 2018, in favour of another sole distribution partner, Travelport. The action of the Air India management had drawn flak from the trade and industry.
As per the new distribution agreement, travel sellers in India will have access to the airline’s full international content, while trade members in the rest of the world will have access to the full range of Air India’s content, both domestic and international.
Commenting on the new tie-up, Meenakshi Mallik, Commercial Director, Air India, said, “We are pleased to renew our relationship with Amadeus to support our growth strategy globally and hope that this is the first step in our new journey together. We look forward to working closer with Amadeus to support agencies and travellers in the future.”
“We are glad to once again work with Air India and play a positive role in the airline’s growth strategy. Amadeus’ simple, open and agile system will allow Air India to innovate, experiment and collaborate to create new products which will add value to customers and create upsell or cross-sell opportunities,” says Cyril Tetaz, Executive Vice President, Airlines, Asia Pacific, Amadeus.
In a recent media interaction in Delhi, Jonathan Tong, Head, Airline IT Solutions APAC, Amadeus, had also expressed the company’s inclination to establish a partnership with the national carrier in various areas of the airline business. While respecting airline’s discretion to choose the distribution partner, he said that the company will continue to engage Air India and explore opportunities for working with the airline in other areas.
While re-engaging Amadeus, Air India has stopped working with another global distribution major, Sabre.
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Also Read, Air India exits Sabre GDS network, After 20 years
