Flight Centre has teamed up with major IT player, Amadeus, to support its expansion in Europe, the Middle East, Africa (EMEA) and Asia, via innovative technology.
The union comes less than a few weeks after Flight Centre extended its arrangement with Amadeus’ competitor, Sabre, but will see the two focus on different goals.
While Sabre powers Flighties’ digital distribution services, Amadeus will work with the travel group to boost its business around the world, while also using Agent feedback and trial to develop a new solution for business and retail travel agencies.
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In a statement, Amadeus explained that Travel Agents across 17 countries in the Flight Centre Travel Group will adopt the Amadeus Selling Platform Connect to deliver personalised services to their clients.
Some of these consultants, along with members from Flight Centre’s head office, will provide input into Amadeus’ NDC-enabled solution that aims to assist sellers worldwide to shop, order and pay for flights and related services, in addition to changing and cancelling bookings, using the NDC standard in Amadeus Selling Platform Connect.
This means travel sellers like Flight Centre will be able to give their customers an even richer choice of fares and the option to book NDC-powered ancillary services within an already familiar working environment.
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Graham Turner said Amadeus was selected as a GDS partner because it can help drive the business forward “with tech innovation for the benefits of our customers”.
“We are committed to ensuring Flight Centre stays ahead of the curve in terms of GDS technology and systems, particularly as new initiatives like NDC emerge.”
Graham Turner, Flight Centre Travel Group Managing Director
Amadeus’ EVP of Business Travel, welcomed Turner’s comments, saying he’s excited to have Flight Centre as a “driver customer” on the NDC journey and assisting in the evolution of the entire travel platform.
“The first evolution of our platform is underway and will give travel sellers, like Flight Centre, access to more content, and will give airlines the flexibility to distribute their products and offers however they choose.”
Rajiv Rajian, Amadeus EVP of Business Travel
Amadeus is aiming to have the first fully scalable solution to travel sellers available worldwide in 2019. This will then continue to develop and evolve.
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