GDS news from Travelport, Amadeus, Sabre, Abacus - March 2012

Product news, releases, projects and more from the global distribution systems during March 2012 – all here, in one easy read.

Most recent updates first…

Thursday 29 March 2012:

Sabre and HP Enterprise Services added a six-year $800 million services agreement to their existing 11-year relationship, and plans call for HP to upgrade Sabre’s mainframes and to migrate most of Sabre’s data center network and storage to HP hardware, including HP 3PAR and HP networking. As part of the new pact, HP will continue to host Sabre’s customer-facing systems and will support customer travel agencies’ network, desktop and print technologies.
Amadeus signs five-year agreement with Uniglobe Travel, a renewal of its existing distribution and IT partnership. Under the terms of deal, Uniglobe services in India, Belgium, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Slovenia, and South Africa will be covered and will see Amadeus used for access to airlines, hotels, car rental and cruise inventory.
PaxIS row grows as IATA goes for opt out consent over data inclusion

Wednesday 28 March 2012:

Travelport announces deal with The Corporate Team (Polyglobe Group) to use Galileo Web Services for GDS hotel content. The Corporate Team’s corporate customers will have access to around 90,000 hotels around the globe, following the switch in January this year.
Abacus inks deal with Kuoni India for development of Sabre Red Apps within the Abacus Workspace. The partnership means Kuoni agents can use, for example, new profiling tools inside the desktop platform to better manage new and existing customers. Abacus is also encouraging agents to collaborate on ideas for other apps to be included within Workspace.
Tnooz-Amadeus Webinar VIDEO: Tech Power Tools – Changing the way we travel
How many hotels in the world are there anyway? Booking.com keeps adding them
Time for the travel industry to move beyond its anti-consumer past
The future of travel search lies on a Silicon Beach (not in a Valley)
Middle East hotel prices – March to May 2012
Air France-KLM first up for Google-driven Affinity Search inspiration tool

Friday 23 March 2012:

Amadeus announces TS24 as new partner for its Amadeus One desktop platform. TS24 will integrate the Amadeus One service and begin live bookings by the third quarter of 2012, allowing agents to “streamline operations, boost productivity, and enhance the services they provide to their business travelers”.
Tnooz-Travelport Webinar VIDEO: The (R)evolution of Search
Sabre starts mediation with American Airlines and Travelport to begin in May

Thursday 22 March 2012:

Travelport renews long-term partnership with Conference & Travel, part of the Travel Leaders Network. The deal sees Travelport serve as C&T’s primary provide of access to air, hotel, car rental and cruise product via the Apollo GDS.
Japanese low-cost airline StarFlyer signs distribution package with Abacus. The exclusive content agreement gives all Abacus-connected agents access to StarFlyer international fares and inventory.
Travelport hands agents in Canada use of Ticket Exchange service. The systems works by guiding Apollo-subscribed agents through various procedures to swap customer tickets, including automatically calculating prices and avoiding the use of cryptic commands. The tool was developed specifically for Canadian agents as, according to Travelport, exchanging BSP e-tickets in the country is a “very complex and difficult process”.
Travelport fourth quarter and full-year 2011 results – top-line digest
CWT Market aggregation app fails to wow business travelers
SilverRail captures $15M funding round, wants to make rail tickets as easy to book as air
FlightStats and Innovata combine flight updates and new schedules API

Monday 19 March 2102:

Amadeus unveils Offers service for agents in the Asia-Pacific region. The platform automates the quote generation and booking process with customers, combining with the Amadeus Selling Platform.
Asia hotel prices – March to May 2012
Technology and tools that will shape the future of how we travel
Google Flight Search adds global routes and first online travel agency links

Thursday 15 March 2012:

Tzell Travel Group completes transition to the Travelport-run Apollo GDS. The US-based regional travel management company will use Apollo as part of a multi-year agreement for sourcing air, hotel, car rental and cruise product to its agents.
Sabre signs deal with ACP Rail International for rail content distribution to agents. Through the agreement, Sabre-connected agents will have access to rail fares and availability from operators in the UK, US, Scandinavia, Australia, Japan and China through the GDS. Content will be available from March 30 2012 on the Sabre Red platform.
Beyond the Year of the Mobile – takeaways so far in 2012
Tnooz-Amadeus FREE Webinar: Tech Power Tools – Changing the way we travel
Iflybags goes mobile with iPhone app for baggage fee calculations

Tuesday 13 March 2012:

Travelport will be supplying its agency customers in the United Arab Emirates with rail content shortly after signing a deal with RailEurope. The agreement sees rail products from across Europe and elsewhere fed into Travelport’s Rooms & More platform alongside its existing hotel products.
Sabre Travel Network has appointed ex-Deutsche Telekom executive Frank Bacher to becomes its vice president for online segments in EMEA. Bacher will have responsibility for growing the online business across those regions when he starts in June this year. Previously he was managing director for sales and marketing at DT division InteractiveMedia and has also held a senior position at eBay with its advertising group.
Abacus International signs exclusive content agreement with Far Eastern Air Transport. Abacus-connected agents will have full access to fares and inventory from the Taiwan-based carrier. The move follows a three-year hiatus for the airline, which suspended services from 2008 to April 2011.
Study: Steer clear of airline alliances when booking round-the-world flights
Booking.com view from the top – new CEO on Big Data, social, flash sales and Google
Tnooz-Travelport FREE Webinar: The (R)evolution of Search
European hotel prices – March to May 2012