The fastest growing Airline IT provider

In only 20 years of innovation, Amadeus has become the leading Airline IT provider with a unique portfolio of new generation solutions and the largest customer base for passenger service systems.

Phase 1: TAKE OFF with a unique reservation platform 1987 - 1999

• In 1987, the four founders of Amadeus – Air France, Lufthansa, Iberia and SAS – commissioned the company to create a cutting edge platform for their reservation services
• Amadeus delivered a unique concept: a common platform that could be shared not only by the founder airlines, but also by every travel agency using the Amadeus Global Distribution System
• While other airlines were managing their reservations in isolation, Amadeus Altéa Reservation pioneered the concept of a seamless reservation service across all sales channels

Phase 2: ASCENT with the full Altéa Suite 2000 - 2006

• On the basis of Amadeus’ unique experience in designing and implementing business critical systems, British Airways and Qantas asked Amadeus to develop their new generation customer management solution. The aim was to radically transform their operations while allowing the airlines to focus on their core business
• Once again, Amadeus re-thought the way inventory and departure control were operated, and looked at how vital airline systems communicate
• €300m and five years of innovation effort later, the result is the Altéa Suite: Reservation, Inventory and Departure Control

Phase 3: ACCELERATION with the expansion of the Airline IT portfolio 2007 -

• Building on its commercial success, Amadeus continues to invest in building an unrivalled portfolio of solutions, which help airlines improve the way they do business
• Alongside the Altéa Suite, Amadeus now offers numerous state-of-the-art stand alone applications, which will have an immediate impact on your operations
• The development of Airline IT has become the cornerstone of Amadeus IT Group strategy

Key Milestones

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  • Started the development of Amadeus Altéa Reservation .(under the name of Amadeus System User)

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  • Cutover of the first Amadeus Altéa Reservation customers: Air France, Iberia, Lufthansa, SAS

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  • Launch of Amadeus e-Ticket Server

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  • Cutover of the first Amadeus e-Retail Engine (then with the name of e-Travel Planitgo) customer.
  • British Airways and Qantas contract to build new generation Customer Management Solution and outsource their core system to Amadeus

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  • Cutover of Qantas to Amadeus Altéa Inventory

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  • Star Alliance contract to build a Common IT platform, including United Airlines and Lufthansa

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  • Cutover of Qantas to Amadeus Altéa Departure Control – Flight
  • Amadeus Altéa Departure Control – Customer in production and completing user acceptance test with Qantas

  • 20 new airlines contract for Altéa, including Cathay Pacific, Mexicana, Saudi Arabian Airlines. Altéa becomes the leading PSS platform chosen by 57 airlines.

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  • Cutover at Qantas of Altéa Departure Control - Customer
  • Cutover of Finnair to Altéa Departure Control - Flight
  • Singapore Airlines is one of the 11 airlines signing for the full Altéa suite

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  • Cutover of Finnair to Altéa Departure Control – Customer
  • Scandinavian Airlines, TAM Airlines, Royal Jordanian Airlines, Tunisair and Royal Air Maroc are one of the new Altéa customers

Proven commitment to the Airline IT Market

Providing best in class IT solutions to the travel industry has always been the business of Amadeus since it was established in 1987.

In order to develop a leading global distribution system when its competitors had a 20-year head start, Amadeus recruited the best IT experts, used the latest technologies and built a unique data centre to support unrivalled service performance.

Now that Amadeus has become the number one GDS, we have used this unique know-how to diversify into the Airline IT market. This diversification is the cornerstone of our growth strategy and is supported by a long-term, continuous investment plan signed off by our new shareholders.

Amadeus has all the core competencies to succeed over the long run: the IT resources to develop and maintain new generation systems; the experience of successfully migrating critical airline systems; the financial resources to expand its product portfolio and acquire new customers; and, of course, a critical customer base.

We have a unique advantage over our non-GDS Airline IT competitors: every time we invest in our global retailing platform, we invest, in fact, in our Customer Management Solution for Airlines, Altéa.

It is this synergy and the growth of our already leading Altéa users community that enables us to commit to this exciting Airline IT market.

Jose-Antonio Tazón
Non-Executive Chairman of the Amadeus Board of Directors
Amadeus IT group

Unique partnership approach

Founded by four airlines, Amadeus has maintained and increased unique airline industry expertise to provide the right airline solution and the right airline experienced people for each project.

Based around three main sites, we have a multicultural perspective and employ people from over 50 different nationalities. We have developed a significant presence in every region of the world to ensure close relationships with our customers, while consolidating knowledge and know-how on a global level.

We have worked in a true partnership with our clients since the very beginning, when we built the new generation reservation system for our four founder airlines. We have since adopted this successful customer-focused approach to develop any new solution with our launch partners, such as completing the full Altéa Suite with British Airways and Qantas.

We work closely with user groups and the airline community, and are convinced that this way of working not only ensures a better match of new solutions with airlines’ needs but that it also facilitates the convergence between airline processes.