Amadeus to introduce new airline fee structure for 2004
Amadeus has taken a different path from its competitors by introducing a new fee structure for airlines based on the market in which a ticket is booked. The new system, billed “value-based pricing” will be introduced from January. Booking values will be defined as either standard or premium. Standard value reservations are domestic or intra-continental reservations made in an airline’s home or prime market. Premium value reservations are any bookings made outside the home market. Amadeus says the change means that for bookings in the US and EMEA region, fees for the newly-defined standard value reservations go down 5%, and fees for premium value reservations go up 5%. In 2005, Amadeus plans to introduce itemised pricing, which it says will allow airlines to pay to use specific optional GDS services. Amadeus says that in the first half of 2004 it plans to pilot the strategy similar to that adopted by its competitors, like Galileo, which offers airlines reduced fees in return for giving agents full access to fares including web fares. Amadeus says agents will be able to choose to participate in return for sharing the distribution costs. In a statement the GDS said: “Amadeus has presented this range of unprecedented and strategic pricing reforms as it recognises that the radical changes in the airline industry require a similar fundamental evolution in distribution pricing.”
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