Air India renews contract with GDS provider Amadeus for international sales

Air India has revived its contract with global distribution service (GDS) provider Amadeus for international sales securing substantial discounts in the process, airline sources said.

Airlines use GDS systems like Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport to distribute their tickets to travel agents globally for a fee. The fee is paid for every booking made on the system and a portion of it is shared by GDS with the agents. As a part of its cost cutting drive Air India had in 2018 selected Amadeus rival Travelport as its sole GDS provider in the country. This had sparked protests from local  travel agents and also led to law suits against the airline.

Now, Air India has renewed its contract with Amadeus and the move comes as the national carrier expands international flights with additional frequencies to London and Toronto. Amadeus has a wide presence in Europe and West Asia region and the selection would help airline boost its sales in the market, it is learnt.  International operations contribute to around 65 per cent of its revenue and growing at 20 per cent which is double that of domestic business.

Travel agents in India will have access to Air India's full international network inventory while those overseas will have access to both domestic and international network tickets. " We are pleased to renew our relationship with Amadeus to support our growth strategy globally and hope this is the first step in our new journey together," said  airline's commercial director Meenakshi Malik.

Between April and November, Air India passenger revenue grew 16.4 per cent to Rs 15,057 crore and its total revenue rose 13 per cent to Rs 18,985 crore on improved loads and higher fares. The airline posted an earning before interest tax depreciation and amortisation of Rs 177 crore during this period as against an Ebidta loss of Rs 535 crore during same period last year.