Amadeus opens IT competency center in Chicago to support commitment to the North American travel industry

Center to provide local support for United Airlines’ implementation of the Amadeus Altéa airline IT platform as well as future IT projects for Amadeus customers

CHICAGO, February 4, 2008 – Amadeus, a global provider of technology solutions to the travel and tourism industry, announces the opening of a new North America IT Competency Center in suburban Chicago. The new Center will initially support the implementation of the company’s Altéa airline IT suite for its North American launch partner, United Airlines. Amadeus also plans to utilize the Center in the future to provide localized technical and engineering support for other airline and travel industry customers as the company continues to expand its technology presence in North America.

“We are thrilled to unveil the North America IT Competency Center and to start transitioning the United project into the implementation phase with our teams on the ground in Chicago,” said Mabrouk Sediri, Vice President, STAR Program, Amadeus, who heads up the Competency Center. “With an airline IT platform as extensive as Altéa and our commitment to delivering a successful implementation for United, this Center will be an integral component of the project’s success as well as Amadeus' continued growth in North America.”

The North America IT Competency Center is modeled after the centers that Amadeus has established to support British Airways in London, England, and Qantas in Sydney, Australia, as both major global carriers moved their IT systems to the Altéa platform. Now, as United Airlines begins moving forward with its Altéa implementation, Amadeus will be able to provide a specialized group of IT professionals to work alongside United in the center located in Arlington Heights, Illinois.

"At United, our objective is to utilize technology to help us provide the best possible customer experience in the most efficient way possible," said Tom Van Dam, Managing Director, Horizon Delivery, United Airlines. "As we continue our transition to the Amadeus Altéa platform, working side by side with the Amadeus team in the Chicago center will be a tremendous advantage and benefit to our efforts."

In addition to the United Altéa project, Amadeus envisions that the Chicago location will continue to expand and provide IT support and customized development services for current and future Amadeus customers. Amadeus' regional headquarter office in Miami will continue to handle account management and sales activities for Amadeus' North American airline customers. The Miami office also provides sales and marketing, product management, commercial operations, and customer support and training for Amadeus North America's travel agency, travel supplier and specialty customers.

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Note to editors:

High-resolution images from the Amadeus Chicago IT Center opening event are available upon request. Please contact Ken Garcia at kgarcia@crt-tanaka.com to request images.

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 travelers). 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 center) and regional offices in Miami, Buenos Aires and Bangkok. At market level, Amadeus maintains customer operations in 75 countries covering more than 215 markets. The company has nearly 6,700 employees worldwide, representing 95 nationalities. Amadeus’ revenue for the year ended 31 December was €2,418.7m. More information about Amadeus is available at: www.amadeus.com.