Travelport GDS has announced agreements with Lufthansa and SWISS which will see the full content of both airlines made available to all Galileo and Worldspan-connected users worldwide until the end of 2011.Under the new agreements, all GDS surcharges will be waived for Travelport GDS travel agencies who choose to participate in the new Lufthansa and SWISS Preferred Fares programmes, soon to be launched in Germany, Austria Switzerland and Lichtenstein.

The long-term agreements, which take effect from July 1, represent a continuation of Travelport GDS’ strategy of securing full content programmes across the globe.

“We are delighted to have signed such ground-breaking agreements with Lufthansa and SWISS and to be able to guarantee surcharge-free booking for all of our travel agency customers for over three years.” said Bryan Conway, Travelport GDS’ Managing Director for Europe, Middle East, Africa and Brazil. 

“These unrivalled agreements will certainly sharpen our competitive edge in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Lichtenstein and further illustrate our ability to work with our airline partners to reach a situation that is mutually beneficial for both of us as well as our agency customers who will no longer have to pay the airlines’ proposed surcharge.”

Thierry Antinori, Executive Vice President, Marketing and Sales, Lufthansa Passenger Airlines commented: “Travelport GDS, with its Galileo and Worldspan systems, is an important distribution partner for the sale of Lufthansa fares and we are looking forward to working closely together over the coming years. The commercial terms of this new agreement allow us to offer participating travel agencies all of our fares without applying additional Preferred Fare fees until the end of 2011. This will give all travel agencies using Galileo or Worldspan long term peace of mind.”

Outside of the Preferred Fare markets of Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Lichtenstein, Galileo and Worldspan-connected agencies will continue to have access to all of Lufthansa’s and SWISS’ published fares and inventory.
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