Amadeus IT Group

Amadeus IT Group specialises in travel technology solutions to facilitate the distribution and sale of airline, train, cruise ship, rental car, hotel and other travel services. The traditional core of its business is the Amadeus Global Distribution System (GDS); more recently the company has tried to reposition itself as an IT partner for the travel and tourism industries, offering e-commerce and IT services in addition to its distribution business.

Through Amadeus over 94,000 travel agencies and over 32,000 airline sales offices around the world are able to make bookings with travel providers.

Around 8,300 people work for Amadeus worldwide in its principal locations and ACOs. The company is multi-cultural with some 95 nationalities working in Amadeus sites worldwide. Headquarters are located in Madrid, Spain.

Other major offices are in Sophia Antipolis, France, as well as in Miami, USA and Erding, Germany. There are also IT services centres in London, UK and Sydney, Australia.

Amadeus customers include:

* American Express
* Carlson Wagonlit
* BCD Travel
* Hogg Robinson Group
* TUI AG
* Expedia
* Thomas Cook

Main figures

* 498 airlines.
* 77,000 hotel properties, 254 hotel chains
* 22 car rental companies, serving over 36,000 locations
* 106 rail providers
* 200 tour operators
* 82 insurance providers in 50 countries
* 17 Cruise lines

Amadeus has subscribers in 217 markets worldwide. There are more than 65 Amadeus Commercial Organizations (ACOs), which offer localized solutions for marketing, customer services, account management and other customer support functions.

Product Overview and examples

Distribution & Content:

These products aggregate and provide comprehensive content to travel sellers together with the means to optimize travel providers’ distribution through an extensive point of-sale network. Amadeus products within this category include:

* Amadeus Electronic Ticketing
* Amadeus Automated Airline Published Fares
* Amadeus Air
* Amadeus XML Fare Data Interface
* Amadeus Global Sales Portfolio
* Amadeus Revenue Maximisation Portfolio

Sales & E-Commerce:

Multi-channel travel technology designed to facilitate online and offline sales whilst improving travel agency workflows, profitability and customer service. Amadeus products within this category include:

* Amadeus Selling Platform
* Amadeus e-Travel Management (employs XX/1 's multi- GDS functionality)
* Amadeus Cruise
* Amadeus Business Travel Portal
* Amadeus API
* Amadeus Altéa Reservation
* Amadeus e-Merchandise Solution

Business Management:

Amadeus solutions designed to optimize business operations, processes and administration. Amadeus products within this category include:

* Amadeus Quality Control
* Amadeus Customer Profiles
* Amadeus Travel Preferences Manager
* Amadeus Agency Manager
* Altéa Customer Management Solution

Services & Consulting:

These service-oriented solutions are marketed as enabling customers the opportunity to leverage the full value of their business processes and IT investments. Amadeus solutions within this category include:

* Training (online, remote learning and classroom based courses)
* Helpdesk

Historical overview

Amadeus was founded in 1987 as a Global Distribution System (GDS) company by Air France, Lufthansa, Iberia and SAS.

Throughout the 1990s Amadeus opened ACOs and regional offices around the world, acquired US based System One GDS, and created an online presence. All its products and services were designed for both leisure and corporate travel:

* Booking solutions specific to car, hotel, and flight bookings
* Solutions for business travel management for corporations
* A travel booking website complete with all kinds of destination information for the traveller

By 2000, Amadeus received quality certification (ISO 9001:2000) from the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) – the first GDS company to do so.

The turn of the century saw partnerships with several airlines as well as important acquisitions of specialist companies. British Airways, Finnair and Qantas Airways contracted Amadeus' Airline IT Services. Amadeus also created products for:

* Sales, reservations, and e-ticketing systems
* Corporate self-booking tools
* Customer Management solutions for airlines

Amadeus acquired:

* SMART AB, the leading travel distribution company in Northern Europe
* Vacation.com, the largest US marketing network for leisure travel
* E-Travel, Inc., a leading supplier of hosted technology products for corporate travel
* Airline Automation (AAI), a robotic PNR processing company, in 2006[1

From http://en.wikipedia.org/