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New age GDS no threat, says Amadeus
GTMC Conference Special: New age global distribution systems will be no cheaper – and possibly more expensive – than established rivals as they don’t possess the purchasing muscle of the traditional GDS’s, the Guild of Travel Management Companies heard.
Speaking at the Guild’s annual conference in Oman, Amadeus vice president multinational customer group Gillian Gibson added they don’t have the functionality or capacity to compete on the same scale.
Gibson also questioned who would fund the new technology.
“New entrants are not cheaper, they are probably more expensive,” she told delegates.
“They have new technology but we are using the same and our purchasing power is much stronger.
We get better rates from IT suppliers.”
Insisting the likes of G2 SwitchWorks have far fewer functions than established players, Gibson said Amadeus could comfortably undercut the prices.
“We do 230 million transactions every day.
We could undercut them in a heartbeat.”
But to do that would mean stripping out agent incentives – something she claimed the new entrants will do but that Amadeus will not.
The debate comes shortly after G2 announced it has secured $10 million of funding.
It is currently booking reservations for American Airlines, Continental, Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines and US Airways.
Report by Steve Jones
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