Amadeus India helps to boost success of Asia Pacific region

Amadeus today announces a series of successes in India, a market which has played a pivotal role in its sustained market leadership in Asia Pacific as a travel technology leader.

• Indian market success pivotal to regional leadership position for Amadeus
• India builds on region’s Airline IT and distribution successes

Bangkok, Thailand, 9 July 2010 – Amadeus, a leading travel technology partner and transaction processor for the global travel and tourism industry, today announces a series of successes in India, a market which has played a pivotal role in its sustained market leadership in Asia Pacific as a travel technology leader.

Amadeus India maintained positive results even throughout 2009, a tough year for the travel market. This was thanks largely to the consistent support of local travel partners. The company has focused on providing innovative and flexible business solutions, global reach and local expertise - an approach which has resonated strongly in India.

India is currently the key growth market for the online travel sector in Asia Pacific, generating around 15 percent of the region’s online travel agency bookings. Amadeus is the clear leader in this sector for India and Asia Pacific, as well as the traditional travel agency channel. Amadeus India now services more than 42,000 point of sales terminals across the country.

Ankur Bhatia, Director Amadeus India, said, “2010 is shaping up to be a positive year for the Indian travel industry, especially with the upcoming Commonwealth Games. Tourism India expects 5.5 million international visitor arrivals to the sub-continent this year, and many will take the opportunity to travel to other destinations in India. The other big story here is the largely untapped Indian domestic tourism market, comprising almost half a billion travellers. The domestic market will undoubtedly become a primary growth engine for India’s travel and tourism industry,” said Bhatia.

Globally, in the first quarter of 2010, Amadeus maintained its global leadership position in market share of close to 37% of air travel agency bookings. The IT Solutions business grew its revenues by 17.9% during the period, continuing its track record of solid growth as contractual migrations took place. This steady growth is underpinned by revenue increases in the Distribution business of 12.4% and on the IT solutions side of the business, an increase in the volume of air travel agency (TA) bookings of 9.6% primarily driven by the performance of emerging markets (Middle East and Africa, CESE and Asia Pacific).

David Brett, President of Amadeus, Asia Pacific, said, “Amadeus continues to be the industry leader in Asia Pacific because of the strength of our business in key markets such as India, and the hard work and expertise of our local team there. The Indian travel market is truly unique, with rapid evolution in infrastructure bringing new opportunities.

“This year in India we expect to see continued growth in the online travel agency sector. We also anticipate increased interest from Indian airlines in Altéa, Amadeus’ Customer Management System, as the importance of improving efficiency and customer service comes to the fore. Indian carriers will need to be on par with leading regional and global airlines such as Qantas, Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines, who have already adopted Altéa. Amadeus is well positioned to grow due to our leading technology, local expertise and strong partnerships,” said Brett.

In addition to its industry leadership position as the prominent travel technology partner in India, Amadeus has growing operations in Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. To support its ongoing expansion, Amadeus India and sub-continent markets have a headcount of over 700 employees.

Some key achievements for Amadeus India in the past 12 months include:

Airline Distribution and IT

AirAsia flights became available for booking via Amadeus travel agencies in India, offering Indian travellers an alternative offline way to book AirAsia flights. This was made possible via the Amadeus Ticketless Access solution, integrating AirAsia flight content into the GDS
Amadeus has secured full content agreements with Air France, Austrian airlines, British Airways, TAM and Lufthansa. Amadeus travel agents worldwide can access to the entire range of fares, schedules and inventory. This also helps them to offer best fares for their customers
Some 15 out of the 26 members of the Star Alliance are users of the Amadeus Altea system.

Travel Agency IT

Amadeus announced the launch of Amadeus Ticket Changer, a first for any GDS in India. This solution helps to save time for travel agents when customers require changes to a ticket

Amadeus announced partnerships with MakeMyTrip and Yatra.com, strengthening Amadeus’ leadership position in online travel agency bookings and helping these online travel agents to offer a more comprehensive and enjoyable shopping experience for their customers.

Hotels

Amadeus launched the Amadeus Hotel Store, an industry-first solution that offers travel agencies access to hotel consolidator content and delivers upfront payments for both the hotel and the travel agent.

Corporate Solutions

Amadeus co-hosted a roadshow with BCD Travel, visiting India’s leading business centres, showcasing a range of new solutions and educating travel program decision makers on how to improve efficiency and service levels in corporate travel.

Rail

Indian Rail content is now easily accessible through Amadeus Selling Platform (ASP), using the Smart Tab technology with BirdRes.com, a state-of-the-art B2B distribution channel from Bird Group. This is the first time that Indian Rail content is accessible through a GDS.

India became the first market to pilot Rail Europe earlier this year increase travel agencies’ revenue by offering Pan-European rail bookings through the Amadeus Selling Platform and offer Amadeus travel agencies in India unparalleled Pan-European rail content.