Amadeus has opened new offices in Dublin, and signed a
number of new deals in 2006, worth approximately €10 million over the next five
years.

Among the agreements are deals with USIT, Falcon Travel and Club Travel, which have
recently deployed Amadeus solutions, ensuring their consultants and customers
benefit from the most advanced travel technology available. These new agreements
also represent a significant change within the travel industry in Ireland, with
Amadeus capturing an additional 15 percent of the Irish market in under a year.

The company’s strong growth is expected to be bolstered with the opening of an
expanded Irish office, which is located in Smithfield, Dublin. Volker Lorenz,
General Manager of Amadeus Marketing Ireland and has set a target of over 27 percent
market share in 2007.

“It has only taken a few months for the industry to recognise the strength of the
Amadeus solutions portfolio, as well as the additional support services we deliver
locally. We are looking forward to next year, when we expect to be able to announce
another major shake-up in the sector,” said Lorenz.

Earlier this year, Amadeus published the results of independent research into the
way the travel industry operates in a number of key European markets, including
Ireland. The research demonstrated that up to 60% percent of a typical travel
agent’s operational costs result from core reservation processes.

The good news is that there is room for significant savings by increasing the level
of automation and/or upgrading the technology used in many travel agencies. For
example, business travel agents using Amadeus solutions can create air bookings,
reserve preferred seats and provide flight information, 66 percent faster than those
using legacy systems. For leisure travel agents, productivity is increased by 56
percent when Amadeus solutions are employed.
 
Using Amadeus, companies operating within the travel and hospitality industry can
make bookings with 467 airlines, representing more than 95 percent of the world’s
scheduled airline seats. The system also provides access to 71,000 hotels, 48 car
rental companies serving some 24,400 locations and other provider groups including
cruise, rail and tour operators.

Aidan Coghlan, Managing Director, with USIT Travel, Ireland’s largest long haul
travel agent, said: “Amadeus enables us to take our business to another level. We
can bring in considerable efficiencies for our staff.  But we were also very
impressed with the professionalism of the Amadeus Ireland staff and we look forward
to working with them.”

Damien Mooney, Managing Director of Falcon Travel commented: “Falcon are delighted
to have recently completed a very smooth transition to Amadeus.  Amadeus have shown
a determined service focus, local support and a system that we believe will allow
our retail sales team to work with continually progressive technology.  The feedback
to date has been excellent.”
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