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Amadeus highlighted its growth and sustained leadership across key markets. As one of the fastest growing distribution systems provider, Amadeus achieved a strong level of performance in 2009 in Asia Pacific and the Middle East and Africa, despite the slump in regional travel due to the global economic recession.
In Asia Pacific, Amadeus grew its market share of travel agency air bookings to 33% for Full Year (FY) 2009. Amadeus Asia Pacific also processes the largest number of online travel agency bookings, with more than a 51% market share. The primary drivers of this market share growth were gains in Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Malaysia. Amadeus also increased its headcount in Asia Pacific by 15% to more than 1,400 employees and opened three new offices – in Bali, Indonesia; Koh Samui, Thailand; and Yangon, Myanmar.
Major new airline agreements signed in 2009 included AirAsia, SEAir, Zest Airways, and a Memorandum of Understanding with Thai Airways to assess the first phase of rolling out the Amadeus Altea Customer Management System. Travel agencies in Asia Pacific using Amadeus to process reservations increased to 19,500.
In the Middle East and Africa region, Amadeus achieved a market share of close to 45% in 2009, a growth substantially higher than the industry as a whole. Despite a slow economy and a decrease in the total number of travel industry bookings in the Middle East and Africa, Amadeus showed resilience with a growth in bookings of more than 9 percentage points compared to the previous year.
Furthermore, Amadeus expanded its reach, market share and headcount by opening three new fully-owned Amadeus Commercial Organisations in Syria, Yemen and Lebanon, making it the only global distribution services provider to have its direct operation across virtually all markets in the Middle East. Amadeus also opened its Middle East Regional Hub based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and appointed a new team of senior executives to oversee the growth of Amadeus in these markets.
“Despite a tough year, Amadeus shone through in Asia Pacific and the Middle East and Africa regions – two of our key potential growth markets. This has been made possible due to the consistent support and commitment from our travel partners and employees in these markets. This year we continue to support and provide technological innovation, global reach and local expertise that will form the foundation of continued growth for Amadeus in the global markets,” said Philippe Chereque, Executive Vice President, Commercial, Amadeus.
Further Amadeus achievements in 2009 include:
– In the Middle East, migrated the 13 Arab Air Carriers Organisation (AACO) regional member Airlines, namely, Air Algerie, Afriqiyah Airways, EgyptAir, Etihad Airways, Kuwait Airways, Libyan Airlines, Qatar Airways, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Sudan Airways, Syrian Arab Airlines, Tunisair, Yemen Airways and Royal Air Maroc, who selected Amadeus as their exclusive distribution partner in a pioneering 10-year agreement
– In Asia Pacific, boosted its presence in China through an agreement with China Southern Airlines to deploy the Amadeus e-Retail solution, which powers international online bookings for the carrier’s inbound and outbound customers. Amadeus’ e-Commerce solutions currently power all major airlines in China, including Air China, Cathay Pacific, China Eastern Airlines, DragonAir and Hainan Airlines
– Commissioned a report “Corporate Travel Management and Practices in China” with PhoCusWright on corporate travel in the world’s fastest growing economy.
– Implemented a ground-breaking agreement with AirAsia, one of the world’s leading LCCs, to enable travel agencies worldwide to book AirAsia flights in the same way they would for a full-service carrier, using Amadeus Ticketless Access solution.
– Announced partnerships with Indian travel website and major Asia Pacific travel website MakeMyTrip.com and Yatra.com, strengthening Amadeus’ leading position in online travel agency bookings.
TravelDailyNews Asia-Pacific editorial team has an experience of over 35 years in B2B travel journalism as well as in tourism & hospitality marketing and communications.
