British Airways and Amadeus close to signing new GDS agreement

Information is beginning to leak out that travel technology provider and global GDS Amadeus and British Airways are ready to sign a new multi-year, full-content deal.

The Madrid-based firm will be the second of the global GDSs – after Travelport in November – to secure a long-term deal with the under-pressure BA.

BA officially says that for the moment the  negotiations are still ongoing, but it is understood that both parties are in agreement and an announcement will be made shortly.

Sabre says that its own deal with BA is due to run until the end of March 2010. The Texas-based GDS is “currently in discussions with them and we’re confident of reaching an agreement”, an official says.

The speed with which two of the three GDSs have signed with BA has surprised some given the fierce negotiations which took place in early-2007.

At the time Amadeus was the last to sign after lengthy talks between the pair continued long after Galileo and Worldspan (both of which sealed individual agreements rather than the recent umbrella deal through Travelport) and then Sabre shook hands on a deal.

The recent talks have also come together quicker than initially thought given that the GDSs are keen to have “full content” in its truest sense rather than what used to be termed as full content.

Travelport says it is working with BA to include such elements as seat selection and other growing ancillary areas of a booking.

It is unknown if the Amadeus agreement includes such features.