Atinera files for bankruptcy

Atinera, the joint venture of Amadeus and Fourth Dimension Software (FDS), has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, but disgruntled UK staff allege that the demise of the company was down to internal politics, not market conditions.

Amadeus senior vice president corporate strategy, Philippe Chereque, blamed challenging economic and industry circumstances for the demise of the San Francisco-based Atinera.

An Atinera UK-based employee, Kevin McGee, operations manager, told TravelMole: “They are claiming that it was market conditions, but our view is very different. We had 21 customers lined up and were about to sign more”.

A statement made by Atinera employees to the press said that Atinera and Amadeus UK had hosted a well-attended day for tour operators on 29 October, during which, “In front of the major European tour operators, Amadeus personnel made much of Amadeus’ social responsibility, its integrity and commitment to staff and customers, and to the leisure industry as a whole”.

The statement alleges that internal politics were the reason for failure. It said: “Atinera’s failure was not related to these issues [restructuring, market conditions]. Its funding was withdrawn because of differences between investors.

“It is enough to say that the differences were the result of a 50:50 joint venture, where one organisation was American the other European, one being a small development organisation and the other being a major global business, and where each had a different ‘exit’ strategy, expectation of return, and the length of time for that return”.

Mr McGee told TravelMole: “We were assured the company would be shut down properly, but it has not been”.

The statement made by Atinera employees alleged that employees in Europe have been left to wind up the business despite having their employment terminated and left without income or notice payments of termination.

A small number of staff have been kept on to manage Atinera under Chapter 11 filing. The rest of the staff in the US, UK, Australia and Germany have lost their jobs. However, Amadeus and FDS have stated that they will try and find jobs within their organisations for those made redundant.

A statement from Amadeus said it plans to retain the technology license rights. Mr Chereque said Amadeus would be working closely with leisure travel companies to try to develop solutions for them in the future. Atinera was developed to supply travel automation and management solutions to operators and leisure travel companies.

Read our previous stories:
09-Apr-02: The TravelMole Interview: Stuart Winter, Atinera
03-Apr-02 Atinera names Stuart Winter ceo
07-Jan-02 Atinera signs Travelocity in its biggest deal to date
19-Oct-01 $60m baby of Amadeus and FDS steps out on its own
12-Dec-00 Amadeus and FDS to establish new company, Atinera