Travelport, the business services provider to the global travel industry, announced a new long-term agreement with Qantas Airways.
The new agreement ensures Galileo, Worldspan and Apollo-connected travel agents worldwide have access to Qantas’ full published inventory including ancillary content such as paid seating, consistent with the airline’s website.
Last year, Travelport subscribers received full GDS access to the Qantas advance seat selection product, following the introduction of a new booking capability enabling agents to book and pay for preferred seats on Qantas flights via their desktop.
The announcement comes soon after their recent joint agreement with RAK Airways for their first ever GDS participation agreement. Under the new deal, Galileo and Worldspan-connected users worldwide will gain access to all of RAK Airways fares and inventory with immediate effect.
Travelport confirmed that the deal formed part of its on-going strategy to aggregate the broadest range of airline content into its GDS channel for travel agency customers worldwide.
'We are thrilled to be signing our first participation agreement with RAK Airways,' said Will Owen Hughes, business development director for Travelport in the Middle East and Africa. 'It very much forms part of our on-going strategy to work hand in hand with the country’s national carriers to maximise the growth potential of this important travel region.'
'The deal between the two companies will enable RAK Airways to widen its distribution base considerably. Offering our customers better access and more choice is important to us and this agreement will help us deliver this,' said John Brayford, CEO, RAK Airways.
'Travelport’s extensive global network complements our ambitious expansion plans and this agreement will really help serve RAK Airways’ future distribution needs.'
The company recently also completed its KLM Economy Comfort seat rollout to all Galileo-connected travel agents in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. In March 2012, Travelport became the first GDS to complete a live booking of a KLM Economy Comfort seat using the new EMD industry standard.
KLM Economy Comfort seats are fulfilled by Travelport using the new industry standard electronic miscellaneous document (EMD). This standard completes the end-to-end process for travel agency distribution of airline ancillary services and forms part of Travelport’s wider merchandising offering.
This offering enables a number of major airlines to sell their products in a more efficient and integrated way through travel agents.
Over the past 16 months, Travelport has successfully integrated ancillary services seamlessly into agency points of sale for airlines including British Airways, Air Canada and United with more in the pipeline throughout 2012.