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Posted Nov 28, 2011
The Millennium Foundation For Innovative Finance For Health pulled the plug on Massivegood, a fundraising project meant to collect charitable donations from travelers when they book travel services. "The board does not see sufficient enough returns for such a micro-philanthropy initiative in today's economic climate," according to a Millennium Foundation statement. "Local and 'green' causes often took precedence for travel industry partners over the global health causes championed by the foundation." Millennium added that it is searching for a third party to license the donation technology developed by Amadeus. Let's hope they find one, because it's a good cause and it would be a shame if the unusual collaboration between GDS operators that helped make the program a reality is wasted.
Posted Jul 20, 2011
Posted Jun 24, 2011
I am now going to shift gears away from online technology and the role that they play in the travel distribution ecosystem to a topic that I have been personally intrigued with since I wrote my first book on Global Distribution Systems in 1999. That topic is GDS marketshare.
As background: Last week, I wrote a blog post that made an erroneous statement about Travelport being the biggest in the US. Rival Sabre quickly corrected me, but would not provide me with statistics to prove their claim. Notice I say "would not," not "could not."
Sabre will be happy to know that I have since corrected that article after verifying the information with Travelport, but decided to write a new blog today on the GDS share topic to augment the correction.
Posted May 13, 2011
Posted Apr 22, 2011
Posted Aug 20, 2010
The following is a proposal to speak at The Beat Live . Readers of The Beat will vote for their choice among eight proposals, and the speaker with the most votes will deliver a keynote speech on Wednesday Sept. 22.
Posted Jan 22, 2010
UAL Corp. chairman and CEO Glenn Tilton spoke at the airline industry's Wings Club in New York Thursday, and focused his prepared comments on familiar topics: taxes are excessive, infrastructure is inadequate, regulation is outdated and industry behavior is dysfunctional. He talked about possible industry consolidation, but was reluctant to answer analysts' and reporters' questions about the JAL saga beyond saying he hopes it continues to be a distraction for his two primary competitors. Tilton also answered a few questions of mine on corporate accounts and information technology.
Posted Jan 13, 2010
The Interactive Travel Services Association commissioned PhoCusWright to produce a paper outlining the "role and influence" of the global distribution systems. You can get it here. For most industry participants, the paper will contain little new information. It looks more like a primer that GDS companies reportedly planning to go public can hand out to potential investors and analysts. If I can be permitted to stereotype, the GDS role is as familiar to such folks as is the dark side of the moon (not the album). ITSA executive director Art Sackler declined to answer my question on whether the paper's timing is related to IPOs, but nevertheless, I have to agree with him that such a paper "was long past due."
Posted Mar 23, 2009
Expedia last week said its European president and a member of the board of directors resigned and was replaced by José Antonio Tazón, who is non-executive chairman of the board at Amadeus IT Group. He was appointed Amadeus chairman in January after a November announcement said he would pass the president and CEO post to David Jones.
According to an Expedia filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the departing Expedia executive, Simon Breakwell, revealed his "intention to resign" as an Expedia board member on March 17 "effective upon the election of his successor." Expedia elected Tazón two days later. "Breakwell confirmed that his resignation was not due to a disagreement with the company on any matter relating to the company’s operations, policies or practices," according to the filing.
Posted Aug 22, 2008
Global distribution system regulatory reviews tend to take, well, forever. Okay, maybe Canada was quick. Anyway, Travolution noted here that the European Parliament has scheduled a debate on the European review for Sept. 3, "with a vote the next day." If approved, the revised code would be considered by the wider European Commission for ratification, "with the new rules coming into force towards the end of Q1 09," Travolution reported. Most interesting will be any determination about whether Amadeus' three part-owning airlines will still be bound by rules on equal play with other GDSs. Mostly, though, it seems people are just ready for a conclusion already. Asked in July about what he expects, Sabre Holdings chairman and CEO Sam Gilliland said, "It's hard to know. It ebbs and flows. I would hope that it's dragged on for long enough, and it would be nice to get to some resolution over the next couple months." Click here for a timeline on the current EC review.
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