Airbus Finds Online Travel Success with Reservation Solution Powered by KDS

Leading aircraft manufacturer will talk about cost savings, increased control and ease of use in a May 30 joint KDS webinar

London, 17 May 2006- KDS, European leader in online business travel management solutions, announced today significant benefits were delivered to Airbus as the company sought to optimise control of its global travel spend through the introduction of an online reservation solution. KDS also announced it will participate in a joint webinar with Airbus on Tuesday, May 30th. The event is designed to help share best practices among corporate travel managers.

Airbus launched its KDS Corporate self booking tool in October of 2005 and estimates annual cost savings of six figures and expects to achieve a return on its investment within a year of the launch of the KDS tool. Airbus has reached an 80% adoption rate in the first year alone.

The KDS solution has also helped Airbus significantly drive bookings to the company’s charter flights, which has contributed to a substantial reduction in average ticket prices. The vast majority of Airbus’s travel is intra-European and on these routes alone the company estimates it has achieved considerable savings. Building on the launch success, Airbus intends to roll out the KDS tool to an additional 49,000 employees across Europe before the end of 2006.

Airbus, well know for its innovation such as the new Airbus A380 has strived to be equally innovative in its online booking tool and travel technology. As such, KDS plays an integral part in the objective to be innovative in every part of our business.

“Airbus made a commitment to bringing in a comprehensive self booking tool to better serve its employees, maximise productivity and save costs. We worked very closely with Airbus in customising and implementing the KDS booking solution,” said Yves Weisselberger, KDS CEO. “The webinar event is an excellent opportunity to hear directly from company about the impact KDS Corporate is having in Airbus’ efforts to optimise its global travel spend.”

Airbus will give a first hand account of the benefits of utilising online travel management solutions on the webinar. The web address for the online event is http://www.kds.com/eng/contact/airbus-webcast.php. A senior manager from Airbus will lead the seminar.

About KDS
KDS is a leading provider of online business travel management solutions. In order to dramatically reduce travel costs, KDS provides corporations with a unique online solution to optimize and automate travel procurement and expense management. KDS Corporate is a pioneer in the integration of expense reporting to business travel management in a single automated information system. KDS’ flagship product deals with all processes related to business travel and expenses, from budget authorization, travel planning and booking to expense reporting.
Founded in 1994, KDS maintains offices in the US, UK, France and Germany.

For more information, visit www.kds.com.