Comments
As a part of its cost-cutting and turnaround plan, Jet Airways has changed its ticket distribution strategy. The debt-laden airline has ended partnership with one of the largest global air ticket reservation data provider and Global Distribution System (GDS) company, Amadeus.
Now the airline’s tickets will be only available via Sabre and Travelport. The move will be effective from April 1, 2019. However, travel agents said the move will impact passengers, travel agents and the airlines as well.
Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport are among the largest GDS network providers in the world. Full-service airlines like Jet Airways, Vistara and Air India distribute their content and ticket inventory via GDS provider. Travel agents subscribe to these network providers to search and raise their tickets. These companies charge the airline a fee for their service, which is a fixed cost that every airline has to bare since an airline cannot practically reach every travel agent across the globe.
In response to BusinessLine ’s query, Jet Airways said that this move was a part of their turnaround plan. “Jet Airways will be implementing the Rich Content and Branding and Branded Fares products from Travelport and Sabre respectively, which will enable the airline’s Travel partners to visualize and sell Jet Airways’ products, services, as well as ancillaries, seamlessly to our guests.”
An industry expert said that this move could mean that the airline can lose business from travel agents that subscribe to only Amedues. He added, “ If the airline was to lose 10 per cent of their bookings but it reduces your cost by 15 per cent, they can still save 5 per cent.”
Online travel agents like Cleartrip heavily uses Amedues’ network distribution, said Balu Ramachandran, Head of Air and Distribution. He said, “It’s a hardstop. We will have to re-align our strategy and get into a technical and commercial relationship with those providers to have Jet Airways’ inventory on our website. This re-alignment will involve investments of time, retraining staff and cost for the companies.”
The Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) did not welcome the move. According to Anil Kumar, GDS - Website - Allied Members Council, TAAI, the association wrote a letter stating the challenges to the airline, however, the letter went unanswered.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.