Amadeus Helps Travel Agencies Gain Greater Access to Bangkok Airways content

- Amadeus Direct Access provides real-time seat availability from the airline’s inventory - Amadeus e-Ticket Direct in Myanmar allows e-ticketing for greater convenience

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 24 September 2009: Amadeus, a global leader in technology and distribution solutions for the travel and tourism industry, announced today that Bangkok Airways has implemented Amadeus Direct Access across all its destination markets, and Amadeus e-Ticket Direct in Myanmar. The implementation of these Amadeus solutions will make it easier for travel agencies around the world to access Bangkok Airways’ real-time seats and book their flights.

Amadeus Direct Access allows Amadeus’ travel agents to connect directly to Bangkok Airways’ reservation system to check the exact availability of its flights in real time. Travel agents can thus obtain the most updated information, including “last seat availability”, and obtain instantaneous booking confirmation, thereby minimising the chance of synchronisation issues and errors.

Bangkok Airways has also implemented Amadeus e-Ticket Direct in one of its online travel markets, Myanmar. This solution enables Amadeus’ travel agents in Myanmar to issue e-tickets on Bangkok Airways’ flights, where previously they were relying on manual processes. There is no Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP) currently in operation in the country. Amadeus e-Ticket Direct therefore provides wider ticketing coverage for Bangkok Airways in Myanmar.

Mr Peter Wiesner, Senior Vice President - Marketing, Bangkok Airways said, “In today’s competitive environment, Bangkok Airways is always exploring ways to make the booking and ticketing process as simple and accurate as possible for our travel agency partners and their customers. With Amadeus Direct Access, we can now facilitate smoother flight bookings and help travel agents offer a higher level of service to customers. Its real-time interactive functionality not only allows us to minimise seat availability discrepancies by providing up-to-the-minute information, but also to automatically confirm and secure the sales made by travel agents.”

“Likewise, the deployment of Amadeus e-Ticket Direct will now enable Amadeus travel agents in Myanmar to issue Bangkok Airways’ e-tickets although there is no local BSP, thereby increasing their product offerings available to customers in this growing and increasingly important market,” added Mr Wiesner.

John Chapman, Vice President of Airline Group for Amadeus Asia Pacific, said “We are delighted to implement our Direct Access and e-Ticket Direct solutions for Bangkok Airways. These tools will enhance the airline’s distribution capabilities; Direct Access will allow it to improve the level of booking service provided to Amadeus’ travel agencies around the globe, while e-Ticket Direct enables Amadeus agents in Myanmar to now issue Bangkok Airways tickets. This means that Bangkok Airways will be able to offer higher-quality booking services to a large number of Amadeus-subscribing agents around the world, benefiting the end consumers.”

More than 110 international airlines around the world have reaped the benefits of Amadeus Direct Access. Thirty-two airlines use Amadeus e-Ticket Direct in 29 markets to enable electronic ticket sales in the absence of a BSP infrastructure.

Amadeus is currently running a joint promotional campaign with Bangkok Airways for Amadeus-subscribing travel agents in Thailand and Cambodia. Agents who book Bangkok Airways seats with Amadeus up until the end of September will stand a chance to win some great prizes. Amadeus and Bangkok Airways are also planning to hold more promotions such as this in the coming year.

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About Amadeus

Amadeus is the chosen technology partner for providers, sellers, and buyers of travel. The company provides distribution, IT and point-of-sale solutions to help its customers adapt, grow and succeed in the fast changing travel industry. Customer groups include travel providers (airlines, hotels, car rental companies, railway companies, ferry lines, cruise lines, insurance companies and tour operators), travel sellers (travel agencies) and travel buyers (corporations and travellers). Solutions are grouped in four solution categories – Distribution & Content, Sales & e-Commerce, Business Management and Services & Consulting.

Amadeus has central sites in Madrid (corporate headquarters & marketing), Nice (development) and Erding (Operations – data processing centre) and regional offices in Miami, Buenos Aires and Bangkok. At market level, Amadeus maintains customer operations through 69 local Amadeus Commercial Organisations covering 217 markets.

The company is majority owned by WAM Acquisition, whose shareholders are BC Partners, Cinven, Air France, Iberia and Lufthansa. Amadeus employs over 8,500 employees worldwide, representing 105 nationalities.

More information about Amadeus is available at: http://www.amadeus.com

About Bangkok Airways

Bangkok Airways officially began its operations as the country’s first privately-owned domestic airline; initially offering scheduled flights from Bangkok to Krabi, Korat, and Surin. At present, Bangkok Airways has obtained permits to operate scheduled flights over 20 different major routes—covering nearly all major resort destinations in Thailand. In addition, the airline has also obtained permits to fly internationally to Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, China, and Japan.

Bangkok Airways, Asia’s Boutique Airline, has won the World Airline Award as the “Best Regional Airline” six times in a row since 2004.

More information about Bangkok Airways is available at: http://www.bangkokair.com

Contact details:

LEWIS PR

Julia Lai

Tel: +65 6534 7250

E-mail: amadeusapac@lewispr.com