Working Together
Travelport has announced that it has signed a new long term GDS agreement with Orbitz Worldwide Inc. Orbitz operates numerous consumer travel brands including Orbitz.com, Cheaptickets.com, ebookers and HotelClub.com, and also provides managed on-line business travel to corporations through Orbitz For Business solutions. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Kurt Ekert, chief commercial officer for Travelport, said: “Travelport technology has been the leading provider of airline, car rental and hotel fares, availability, booking and ticketing services to Orbitz since its launch in 2001. Under this new agreement, we have plans to work together to supplement this via an upgrade to Travelport’s latest API connectivity — Travelport Universal API — enabling Orbitz to progressively access and display to its customers the much wider range of travel content that Travelport can now provide through its direct connections to a wide variety of airlines. The wider range of travel content will include improved descriptive information on the airline products on offer, airline fares families, ancillary products (such as paid seats and other merchandising), as well as a much broader range of hotel content.”
Ekert added: “We have updated our agreement, which dates back to 2007, to meet the changing needs of Orbitz in its distribution landscape to the mutual benefit of both parties. Orbitz has always used a combination of GDSs and other connectivity options and [this] agreement continues this flexibility. Orbitz will process the majority of its GDS segments on Travelport for 2014 and we expect to continue to be a significant GDS provider and technology partner to Orbitz thereafter.¸
Chris Orton, chief operating officer for Orbitz Worldwide, said: “Travelport has been an important partner for Orbitz and we are pleased that they will continue to play a key role in our technology and travel management needs through this multi-year agreement. As we work to keep our online sites the best places to buy travel, we will use Travelport’s new solutions for the changing airline marketplace.”
