Amadeus and Orbitz Worldwide, a leading global online travel company which uses technology to transform the way consumers around the world plan and purchase travel, have announced the two companies have entered into a new multi-year agreement.

At the same time Orbitz has also completed a long term GDS agreement deal with Travelport, a leading distribution services and e-commerce provider for the global travel industry.

Under the new agreement with Amadeus, the tech giant will deliver its industry-leading technology and global distribution system services to support Orbitz brands in North America. 

Additional terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

“As part of our decision to move to a multi-GDS strategy and after in-depth review of provider options, we are delighted to be working with Amadeus in North America.

“We look forward to incorporating their technology and innovation to maintain our edge as the best online and mobile sites to buy travel,” said Chris Orton, chief operating officer, Orbitz.com.

Orbitz Worldwide focuses on using innovative technology to enable leisure and business travellers to search for, plan and book a broad range of travel products and services including airline tickets, hotels, car rentals, cruises, and vacation packages.

The Orbitz portfolio includes online consumer travel brands known worldwide, including Orbitz.com and CheapTickets.com in North America, ebookers.com in Europe and HotelClub.com, based in Asia Pacific with global operations.

“We couldn’t be more pleased and excited about our new partnership with Orbitz.

“This agreement to serve Orbitz needs in North America is further testament to Amadeus’ significant investment and focus on delivering the global reach and technology services that are critical to the largest online travel agencies,” said Holger Taubmann, senior vice president, distribution, Amadeus IT Group.

Worldwide, Amadeus has achieved and continues to expand its leading position in serving the needs of online travel companies by providing them with technology and services that help ensure they attract more traffic, better convert selling opportunities and optimize the consumer experience for the end traveller.

Additionally in the North American market, Amadeus has built a dedicated team of experts and regionally focused technology solutions to serve the specialized needs of established and emerging online travel companies.

Travelport

Travelport has also signed a new GDS agreement with Orbitz.

“Travelport technology has been the leading provider of airline, car rental and hotel fares, availability, booking and ticketing services to Orbitz since its launch in 2001,” said Kurt Ekert, chief commercial officer, Travelport. 

“Under this new agreement, we have plans to work together to supplement this via an upgrade to Travelport’s latest API connectivity – Travelport Universal API – enabling Orbitz to progressively access and display to its customers the much wider range of travel content that Travelport can now provide through its direct connections to a wide variety of airlines.

“The wider range of travel content will include improved descriptive information on the airline products on offer, airline fares families, ancillary products (such as paid seats and other merchandising), as well as a much broader range of hotel content.”

Ekert added: “We have updated our agreement, which dates back to 2007, to meet the changing needs of Orbitz in its distribution landscape to the mutual benefit of both parties.

“Orbitz has always used a combination of GDSs and other connectivity options and today’s agreement continues this flexibility.

“Orbitz will process the majority of its GDS segments on Travelport for 2014 and we expect to continue to be a significant GDS provider and technology partner to Orbitz thereafter.”