RECAP: Sabre Travel Network claims nearly 100 participants in its authorized developer program, which requires fees for certain services. The program recently lost a member when Sabre expelled Farelogix for "actively encouraging fragmentation." American Airlines wants Sabre to play nice because AA said Farelogix is "developing" merchandizing technology for diversified airfares and ancillary products. Pioneered by the likes of Air Canada and Ryanair, such unbundled pricing is found on an increasing number of airline Web sites. Sabre, too, is working to enable such functions in its agency interfaces and thus far has activated a limited set of fare flavors with a short list of airlines. That list as of this week includes United Airlines, which is offering the extra-legroom Economy Plus seats to users of Sabre's MySabre and Turbo Sabre interfaces. In the midst of all this, a column by the head of a third-party developer that works with Farelogix raised ire in the GDS community. Travelport responded last week with a piece in The Beat
and here's a comment from Amadeus ...
"I am compelled to respond to Michael Strauss, CEO of Pass Consulting, who wrote a guest editorial recently in
The Beat. His claims were that members of the travel community lacked innovation, particularly calling out the global distribution systems as the guilty parties in this crisis. The truth of the matter is that the so-called 'traditional GDS companies' were travel technology leaders from the day they opened their doors. They mastered the challenges of providing reservation and distribution technology, then forged solid revenue streams which enabled a strong commercial foundation from which they have consistently proven the ability to innovate, expand and evolve technologically and commercially.
However, I do agree that we are at a turning point in the distribution business. Each distribution company is adopting different strategies going forward. In 2007, Amadeus spent $400 million for software development and support. Our compound growth rate for research and development spend has been over 10 percent in the last five years.
This is by no means your father's GDS. And like many of our clients and partners, we see this time of crisis in a strategic manner. It's a time to continue to invest where it makes the most sense. In the areas that are strategic to our future, we are moving ahead with a razor-sharp plan. In doing this ourselves, we have welcomed third party providers with open arms. However, given the complexities of the travel industry, it takes more than a clever idea to be successful. We've seen many players come and go by not recognizing the intricacies.
Finally, a last comment on the traditional GDS business. Do we still actively pursue it? Absolutely! As the largest provider of these services worldwide, we certainly plan to maintain that leadership position. And yes, we fight over market share. What good business wouldn't?"
~ Amadeus Americas executive vice president Dwayne Ingram
