News

Airline content aggregator AirGateway this week launched a Web browser extension that lets agents compare content in Amadeus' global distribution system with New Distribution Capability-piped offers that AirGateway pulls from more than 25 airlines, the company announced.

About half of the airlines that list fares in Amadeus' global distribution system also make available some ancillary fee data, according to supplemental comments the travel distribution and IT company filed with the U.S. Department of Transportation last month. To Amadeus, it's a glass half-empty and a rallying cry for DOT intervention. To airlines, it's a sign of market progress and another reason DOT should scrap its federal rulemaking on ancillary disclosures.

Scandinavian Airlines this month fleshed out some elements of its newly revised distribution plans, having abandoned a proposed "wholesale model" amid its recently forged distribution and IT deal with Amadeus.

Ryanair last week returned to Amadeus after more than a five-year absence from the largest global distribution system operator and dominant player in the budget carrier's European turf.

Flight Centre Travel Group's customers in aggregate have been booking fewer tickets on American Airlines since April 1, when the airline's New Distribution Capability-based content differentiation actions began.

Performance from Serko's partnership with Booking Holdings was a standout in the New Zealand-based T&E tech provider's annual results, released Wednesday. Serko expects CWT's newly announced agreement to join in the Booking.com for Business partnership to further expand the product's reach with unmanaged business travel clients.

No one likes debit memos. Not airlines. Not agents. Such carriers as Air Canada, British Airways and Latam promote a reduction in their issuance as a reason travel agencies should embrace New Distribution Capability-based selling.

BCD Travel president and CEO John Snyder on July 1 will depart the mega travel management company and hand the reins to Stephan Baars, a former BCD Travel exec with established ties to the van Vlissingen family, which owns the company.

In the past 12 months, American Express Global Business Travel claimed it won $2.2 billion worth of annualized transaction value among small-and-midsize businesses. That represents 65 percent of all of Amex GBT's estimated new-win value in the past 12 months.

Recent removals by some airlines of fares from EDIFACT channels in favor of New Distribution Capability connections may be causing consternation in some agency and corporate circles. NDC booking volumes via Amadeus, however, "are still low," CEO Luis Maroto told financial analysts in an earnings call on Tuesday.