Air France-KLM U.S. vice president and general manager
Christine Ourmières recently updated us on corporate contracting among SkyTeam's joint venture partners (including Delta). I also asked her about a few distribution topics. Joint alliance-GDS negotiations? Don't hold your breath. Revised agency compensation programs for Delta's TMC clients? There were some questions at first, but now everything is cool, according to Ourmières.
There is a story about AF447 that very few people know--too few people. This is a story about Tim Van Waard, who is based in The Netherlands and was the original owner of @KLM on Twitter.
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.
