Indian Airline Plans a GDS

The Economic Times of India reported yesterday that Jet Airways, facing a $40 million annual global distribution system tab, is planning with other Indian carriers and an unnamed tech firm to build a new GDS.

 

Yes, there are a lot of good programmers in India. But you also have to get travel agencies to use what they build--travel agencies that likely already are using Amadeus or Galileo.

As ITA Software and G2 SwitchWorks can attest, building a GDS is a lot easier said than done. While operational, ITA's GDS lacks a market, according to chief commercial officer Gianni Marostica. And G2 SwitchWorks may disappear now that it has agreed to sell its agent desktop technology to Travelport, although G2 thus far has not commented to reporters about its future. In any case, G2 long ago shifted away from attempting to build a GDS.