Travelport, one of the world’s leading providers of global distribution systems (GDS), today announced that it has successfully migrated Oman’s Bahwan Travel Consortium to its Galileo platform in what is the single-largest migration for the GDS provider this year.

As the General Sales Agent (GSA) for 16 major air carriers, Bahwan Travel Consortium has developed a strong foothold in Oman over the last 35 years, with a network driving approximately 25 percent of the travel and tourism business in the Sultanate. The group is also a leader in corporate travel, serving a customer base of 850 corporate clients, including all government-related institutions.

In a major feat for both Travelport and Bahwan, all of the group’s reservation and ticketing systems were switched seamlessly from their previous GDS to the Galileo platform in less than 24-hours. Working as true partners, the project team members from Bahwan, Galileo Oman and Travelport ensured that more than 80 front-end users were successfully trained on the system within a limited time frame, enabling a smooth transition post-migration.

Shankar Bose, General Manager, Bahwan Travel Consortium, said: “We made the conversion to Travelport for several reasons, but mainly because they invested considerable time consulting with us to ensure they understood our goals and challenges. We are very pleased with how Travelport handled the conversion – they’ve been very responsive and the whole process has been an amazing success.”

The full conversion follows Travelport’s multi-year agreement with Bahwan earlier this year, providing access to the rich air, hotel and car content available on Galileo. As part of the deal, Travelport has also deployed several strategic solutions aimed at enhancing the Travel Group’s productivity, including ViewTrip, White Label, e-Tracker, and Agency Private Fares, as well as tailor-made scripts designed to streamline the process of refunding and re-issuing tickets.

“Travelport is delighted to partner with Bahwan Travel Consortium and we are especially pleased to deliver the functionality, technology and support that they need to grow their business and succeed,” said Rabih Saab, Vice-President, Travelport GDS, Middle East.  “As a GDS powering some of the biggest names in the travel and tour operating business, Travelport is proud to be working with such a reputable group.”

Shyam Sasidharan, Country Manager, Galileo Oman concluded, “Bahwan’s migration to the Galileo GDS marks the official start of a great partnership and the continuation of what is already a close working relationship. We are dedicated to supporting the group with the very best travel technology and look forward to celebrating other milestones with them in the months and years ahead.”