First View

Amadeus wins Japan Airlines International and Domestic Passenger Services Business
Amadeus have consolidated their position in Asia as the dominant supplier of passenger services technology by announcing a long-term agreement with Japan Airlines.
Date:31/07/2014

Emirates Breaks with the PSS Market Trend, First or Last?
Emirates have made the decision not to move ahead with Amadeus' PSS solution after a long and expensive process for all parties. This is not as much of a blow for Amadeus as it is for the outdated marketing automation structures.
Date:07/07/2014

IBS Progress Further in Japan with Vanilla offering
IBS and ANA announced they have entered into a contract on 5th February 2014 for the provision of PSS and other services to Vanilla Air. IBS is no stranger to ANA, with ANA having worked with IBS on the ultimately successful development and implementation of the IBS iCargo platform, launched back in February 2009. IBS have had some success in a demanding and difficult Japanese market place.
Date:05/02/2014

Emirates PSS Decision Deferred
With no announcement despite considerable investment in a long procurement process it is clear Emirates President Tim Clark requires more evidence that Emirates can not remain independent with respect to PSS solution provision.
Date:30/12/2013

CIOs Priorities for 2014
T2RL conducted interviews with airline CIOs and executives between October and December 2013, T2RL consider the implications for the vendors.
Date:29/12/2013

Emirates PSS Decision Imminent
Emirates embarked on a process to evaluate the market with respect to the provision of PSS solutions. The management team are expected to make a decision in the coming weeks. This is critical decision for Emirates and a major signal to the market place in general.
Date:03/11/2013

Rising PSS Implementation Fees Will Slow Market Changes
T2RL’s latest research suggests that vendor charged PSS implementation costs have been rising steadily over the last 10 years. The effect will be to slow market share changes and extend terms with incumbents.
Date:30/08/2013

Expedia Powers Sabre's Offer
Expedia and Sabre have entered into an agreement where Travelocity becomes the ultimate affiliate as part of a process to improve financials prior to a transaction.
Date:24/08/2013

Amadeus Talks Turkish
The acquisition by Amadeus of a major product line from Turkish company Hitit marks a significant departure for both companies. And it may significantly influence the battle to supply PSS to Turkish Airlines.
Date:15/04/2013

NDC will benefit the GDS and PSS Providers
IATA has adopted a standard for its New Distribution Capacity. This will allow airlines to market their services as effectively in indirect channels as they already do in their web sites and call centres. Always assuming that ill-informed controversy whipped up by the likes of the Business Travel Consortium is not allowed to derail a much needed modernisation.
Date:15/04/2013

Sabre's Quiet Success
The first major PSS migration of the year has taken place and it went off apparently without a hitch. Etihad is now a user of the SabreSonic suite and the market for airline passenger services systems has been demonstrated to be a rational and competitive one.
Date:13/03/2013

Kayak Cashes Out
With Google not yet established in airline search the owners of Kayak have exploited an opportunity to maximise their returns.
Date:22/11/2012

Thomas, Son of Amadeus
The North American carriers will be hard pressed to find a commercial proposition from the market that meets their current low costs and rates for PSS. To sustain their economics they will have to look at new models and agreements. One of these models might resemble Air France, Lufthansa, SAS and Iberia's creation of Amadeus in 1986. Open Source may be another model for consideration. Whatever route they choose the prize might be more than maintaining PSS economics.
Date:21/10/2012

Amadeus Extends its Reach
Amadeus has introduced another new product line. Revenue Accounts is a natural extension to its existing PSS and Revenue Management applications. It is also the second most valuable application in most airlines' portfolio and as such offers long-term revenue opportunities.
Date:07/09/2012

Knowing Me, Knowing You - AhHa?
British Airways and Starwood Hotels have both drawn criticism for their attempts to embellish customer data with research in non-related areas. Privacy and data security are among the hottest topics for debate in the online world of 2012. It is unlikely that BA and Starwood will be the last to attract controversy.
Date:23/07/2012

Inertia Rules - Not OK
Airline technology is often characterised as living in the past. The struggle the Internet community has had to implement IPV6 shows that the problems are far from unique to a single industry.
Date:14/06/2012

Zuckerberg's New Clothes
The forthcoming Facebook IPO has cranked up the hype cycle for social networking another couple of notches. While acknowledging the usefulness of social networks as part of an overall marcomms strategy we think that a touch of realism is also required.
Date:06/05/2012

Amadeus Goes Nuts in North America
Amadeus has finally made a significant sale in North America. Until now this was the biggest gap on the Amadeus map of the world but the agreement of Southwest to use Amadeus for its international business may just be the springboard that the European company has been looking for.
Date:27/04/2012

2012 Brings Significant Changes in the PSS Market
The first quarter has been hyperactive in the market for airline PSS - and it still has almost a month to run. More strategic changes should not be ruled out as the alignments shift among the big players.
Date:06/03/2012

Google Doesn't Do "Also-Ran"
Google has lost little time since acquiring ITA Software in April 2011. The first version of Google flight search was launched in September and there have been several iterations since. There is no doubt that Google has deep resources and that the ITA product was very capable when it was acquired. The question that airline strategists should now be asking is "Who can compete with Google?"
Date:31/01/2012