Amadeus will offer more low cost seats - Car Rental News
Amadeus will offer more low cost seats
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Car Rental News - 16/10/2008
Online technology provider Amadeus announced it will distribute seats on more low-cost carriers in 2009.
The new low-cost offerings will include Monarch as well as seats on budget carriers from Germany, France and Scandinavia.
Amadeus began to distribute low-cost seats in 2007 when it signed a deal with easyJet, but the point-of-sale fee it introduced proved extremely unpopular.
Stephane Durand, who is the managing director of Amadeus UK and Ireland, said: “We think Monarch will come in the first quarter of 2009, as will LCCs based in France, Germany and Scandinavia, but we don’t think all of them will come with a surcharge because they will want to maximise distribution opportunities.”
He added: “It’s interesting to watch what happened with Iberia which initially charged a surcharge for low fares in its home market but them pulled back and offered full content as well.”
Durand noted that a reduction recently in Easyjet’s point-of-sale fee was “a step in the right direction.”
Guild of Travel Management Companies members are not happy about being charged any fee at all, and many have said that they will book easyJet seats only via non-GDS channels.
The Amadeus exec confirmed that he was talking to all the low-cost airlines about distributing their seats online - “even Ryanair” - but he conceded that “we do not think they will be next on the list.”
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