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Saudi Arabian Airlines enhances connectivity with Travelport

Seamless booking functionality provides travel agents with real-time availability of fares

Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: 31 October 2011 - Travelport, the business services provider to the global travel industry, today announces that Galileo and Worldspan-connected travel agents globally can now benefit from enhanced connectivity on flight bookings with Saudi Arabian Airlines .

Further to the 3-year content deal signed with Travelport earlier this year, Saudi Arabian Airlines has upgraded its agreement with the GDS provider, opting to leverage Travelport's cutting-edge 'inside availability' technology to ensure the highest level of connectivity on all bookings made through the Galileo and Worldspan reservation systems.

The enhanced functionality ensures that travel agents have real-time connectivity to Saudi Arabian Airlines ' fare inventory, providing last-seat availability, instant booking confirmations, current pricing, rules, as well as full e-ticketing capabilities for agents booking seats for their customers on any of the airline's flights.

Importantly, Travelport is also able to offer 'drop-through' functionality whereby approved agents within the Kingdom and throughout the rest of the world will be able to service and ticket bookings originally made directly within Saudi Arabian Airlines ' reservation system, helping boost efficiency and customer service. For example, drop-through is particularly useful for agents making large group bookings, such as Hajj and Umra.

As a result of these new features, booking transactions between Saudi Arabian Airlines and Travelport's extensive global network of travel retailers will be seamless, increasing productivity and operational cost savings for the travel trade, as well as providing numerous yield management and inventory control benefits to the airline.

"Complementary solutions such as Inside Availability and Drop Through offer airlines the opportunity to boost operational efficiency by enhancing their distribution capabilities," said Will Owen Hughes, senior director of airline services, Middle East and Africa, Travelport. "We are delighted to offer our trade partners greater functionality both within the Kingdom and globally, including key enhancements that will ensure a truly seamless booking experience."

Travelport's existing content agreement with Saudi Arabian Airlines guarantees Galileo and Worldspan-connected users worldwide with access to the carrier's inventory of flights and fares on more than 80 domestic and international routes.

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About Travelport (www.travelport.com)
Travelport is a broad-based business services company and a leading provider of critical transaction processing solutions to companies operating in the global travel industry.

With a presence in 160 countries, approximately 5,475 employees and reported 2010 revenues of $2.3 billion, Travelport is comprised of the global distribution system (GDS) business that includes the Galileo and Worldspan brands; GTA, a leading global, multi-channel provider of hotel and ground services; and Airline IT Solutions, which hosts mission critical applications and provides business and data analysis solutions for major airlines.

Travelport also owns approximately 48% of Orbitz Worldwide (NYSE: OWW), a leading global online travel company. Travelport is a private company owned by The Blackstone Group, One Equity Partners, Technology Crossover Ventures, and Travelport management.

Follow Travelport on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Travelport

© Press Release 2011