JEDDAH -- A global distribution system (GDS) and technology provider has launched a new initiative to support the introduction of a web-based billing and settlement plan (BSP) link to travel agents across Saudi Arabia.
"This move is aimed to answer a critical business need from the travel industry in the market by Amadeus, which has been serving the marketing, sales and distribution needs of the world's travel and tourism industries," M. Kalam Sayed, country manager, sales and marketing, Amadeus, told Arab News alongside a presentation held at Jeddah InterContinental Hotel yesterday.
"What we're doing is to help introduce our web-based tool for reporting and administration of different processes of BSP," he added.
The seminar, which was largely attended by local travel agents, was the second of a series of five International Air Transport Association (IATA) BSP seminars in the Kingdom. The first was held in Alkhobar on Wednesday, where representatives of travel agencies in the Eastern Province were briefed on the BSPlink, the global interface for travel agents and airlines to access IATA's BSP, he added. "Amadeus fully endorses IATA's BSP initiative," Sayed said. "The Internet Protocol (IP) migration is crucial for travel agents worldwide since it leads to immediate cost savings and boosts productivity. Web-based solutions give agents access to the efficiency of the latest technology to enhance customer service for leisure and corporate travelers," he added.
IATA, which was represented by Naser Assati, its country manager for the Kingdom, currently provides services for the settlement of financial transactions between travel agents and the airlines. This Internet-based interface to BSP consolidates the amounts owed by each agent to the amounts due to each airline and enables the settlement to be made through a single financial transfer for each participant. BSPlink is an innovative, Internet-based system to facilitate interaction and exchange of information between all participants in the BSP -- airlines and travel agents.
Amadeus' comprehensive GDS data processing center serves over 64,000 travel agency locations and more than 10,000 airline sales offices, totaling around 330,000 points of sale located in over 215 markets worldwide. Through the Amadeus GDS, travel agencies and airline offices can make bookings on 95 percent of the world's scheduled airline seats. The system also provides access to 52,000 hotel properties, some 45 car rental companies serving over 26,000 locations, as well as ferry, rail, cruise, tour operators and insurance companies.
Over 145 airlines use Amadeus' Altea Sell as the sales and reservation system in their offices, to provide passengers with superior and seamless service at optimal cost.
Amadeus' new generation Customer Management Solutions include Altea Plan (inventory management system) and Altea Fly (departure control system). British Airways, Qantas and Finnair are the first customers to implement these solutions.
Amadeus' e-commerce business unit, e-Travel, is the global leader in online travel technology and corporate travel management solutions. It services travel agencies in 90 countries, and powers the websites of over 260 corporations and more than 60 airlines and hotels.
Headquartered in Madrid and quoted on the Madrid, Paris and Frankfurt stock exchanges, Amadeus reported revenues of 1.93 billion euros and net income excluding special items of 158.4 million euros for the year ended Dec. 31, 2003. The Amadeus data center is in Erding, near Munich, Germany and its principal development offices are located in Sophia Antipolis, near Nice, France. The company has 5,000 employees worldwide.
The next Amadeus-sponsored seminars are at Riyadh InterContinental Hotel in the capital tomorrow, at Le Meridien in Madinah on Feb. 16, and at the Trident in Khamis Mushayt/Abha on Feb. 19.
K.S. Ramkumar
© Arab News 2005
