Amadeus maintains 2002 bookings target

Amadeus has said it is still hoping to reach its goal of increasing bookings by 1.2% for the year.

It follows the publication of the GDS firm’s second quarter results on Thursday (Aug 1), which showed that total travel bookings increased by 0.5% for the three months to June 30. Falls in North America and Europe were offset by big gains in Asia Pacific and Eastern Europe of 19.7% and 9.5% respectively. According to Amadeus this compares to an overall decline in GDS air bookings of 6.1%.

The company also reported a 127.1% jump in its revenues from corporate and online travel to EUR21.8 million, with online bookings for the quarter up 137.5% on the same period in 2001.

Chief executive and president José Antonio Tazón said: “Against a challenging industry background, Amadeus has been able to increase net income, excluding special items, by 9.2% in the second quarter through bookings growth, careful cost control and continued diversification of revenue.

“Amadeus is maintaining its target of 1.2 per cent bookings growth for 2002. Target EBITDA for the year is unchanged at EUR 458million. We remain confident of continuing to outperform the industry in bookings growth for the full year.”