bmibaby signs up for Travelport's direct connect solution

Travelport, one of the world’s leading global distribution system (GDS) providers, and bmibaby have today announced details of a new direct connect content agreement that will enable bmibaby’s full content to be made available in the GDS channel , from the end of November, via the innovative direct connect solution currently available on Galileo . Today’s announcement means that five new low cost carriers have now signed up this year.

Travelport confirmed that the development of its direct connect product was a reflection of the growing importance of the low cost air sector and the demands of its travel agency customers to have the content available through the GDS channel. The new direct connect participation option, which complements the traditional channel offering a further 60 low cost carriers, has sparked considerable interest amongst the low cost carrier community.

The solution, now being widely used by travel agencies throughout Europe, was introduced early last year. Since its launch, travel agents have reported greatly improved efficiency and productivity compared to booking via the web, which typically takes agents four times longer. In contrast to agents booking via low cost carrier websites (and other GDS providers), the Travelport direct connect solution which is currently available via Galileo uniquely gives agents the ability to book low cost carrier and traditional airline flights in the same passenger name record (PNR) - for example, outbound bmibaby and inbound British Airways.

By booking the low cost carrier content via the GDS, agents also benefit from the automatic handoff of the booking data to their mid or back office systems for accounting purposes.

Jerome Moisan, General Manager, UK & Ireland for Travelport GDS, commented: “We are delighted to now be able to offer bmibaby content through Galileo. In today’s challenging economic environment, we are seeing more and more businesses wanting to tightly manage their travel expenditure and this technology effectively enables travel agents to compare low cost alternatives alongside traditional airfares in their preferred booking environment. It also provides low cost airlines with a very efficient and simple means of distribution.”

“Our successful implementation across Europe has indicated that booking a low cost flight using this solution is significantly faster than any previous method used by travel agents.” continued Moisan.

Julian Carr, Commercial Director for bmibaby, commented: “bmibaby is a popular airline for both leisure and business travellers alike and we need to offer our customers the choice of being able to book both directly on the website as well as through a travel agent. There is no doubt that travel agents want the content to be easily accessible through the GDS channel, so this agreement should hopefully be very well received by the travel trade community.”

The Travelport direct connect solution has already been successfully rolled-out to Galileo travel agencies across Europe and is soon to be launched in the Middle East and Africa.

(c) Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation. Date posted: 20-Nov-09

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