The Airline Reservation
...evolved into the Computer Reservations System (CRS), and then into Global Distribution System (GDS). The airline industry created the first GDS in the 1960s as a way to keep track of flight schedules, availability, and prices. Although accused of being “dinosaurs” due to their use of legacy system technology, the GDSs were actually among the first e-commerce companies in the world facilitating B-2-B electronic commerce as early as the mid 1970s, when SABRE (owned by American Airline) and Apollo (United) began installing their propriety internal reservations systems in travel agencies. Prior to this, travel agents spent an inordinate amount of time manually entering reservations. The airlines realized that by automating the reservation process for travel agents, they could make the travel agents more productive and essentially turn into an extension of the airline’s sales force. It is these original, legacy GDSs that today provide the backbone to the Internet travel distribution system.
There are currently four major GDS systems:
1. Amadeus
2. Sabre
3. Galileo
4. Worldspan
Amadeus
Amadeus is founded in 1987, and headquartered in Madrid. Amadeus is the world’s leading technology provider to the travel industry, providing marketing, distribution and IT services worldwide.
Amadeus Global Travel Distribution is used in both travel agencies and airline sales offices worldwide. Amadeus provides IT services for more than 140 airlines worldwide, including many major European carriers. All reservations, fares and ticketing for these airlines are made on the same Amadeus system used by travel agency customers
Today's travel industry is seeing rapid growth, high customer expectations, fierce competition and pressure on margins. This is a market driven by new technologies, new entrants and new business models.
Amadeus Altéa Reservation
A...
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