Abacus International, Asia Pacific’s leading revenue partner for airlines, continues its path as the choice content distribution partner for Low Cost Carriers (LCC) and Hybrid carriers. It reported a growth of 126 per cent in LCC/Hybrid Carrier bookings in the first half of 2012 as compared to the same period in 2011.

Abacus currently boasts the largest LCC and Hybrid airline portfolio in Asia Pacific. This growth is underpinned by new LCC and Hybrid customer contracts that were won and implemented on the Abacus platform this year, as well as growth in existing LCC and hybrid customers like AirAsia and AirPhil Express. Abacus has also worked long with Juneyao Airlines as the airline’s exclusive distributor outside of China.

Over the past year, Abacus has signed contracts with Jetstar Pacific in Vietnam, Sapsan in Kazakhstan, StarFlyer in Japan and Cambodia’s Angkor Air. More recently, Abacus has announced exclusive agreements with Air Busan and Zest Air as well as a first-mover partnership with Scoot. These recent partnerships will strengthen Abacus’ content offerings for its agency subscribers in Korea, the Philippines and Singapore.

“We are very pleased with the results we have seen and believe they reinforce our position as the leader for LCC content in the region. Abacus is deeply honoured to be the partner of choice for our airline partners in this segment and we are happy that our productive Abacus network has proven to deliver great value to our LCC and Hybrid airline customers,” Mr Ho Hoong Mau, Division Head, Airline Distribution of Abacus International said. “The growth we have experienced is testament to Abacus’ reach and strength in the market and the volume of bookings that we are able to achieve for our partners and agencies.”

The LCC market has experienced rapid growth in the Asia Pacific region over the past five years. In the first six months of 2012 alone, LCCs accounted for 25 per cent share of total seats as compared to 19 per cent of seats in 2011 [1]. This growth has resulted in the LCC market becoming an increasingly influential segment in the travel industry.

“Abacus’ extensive network and in-depth knowledge of the Asia Pacific region puts us in a good position to meet our LCC partners’ needs as they look to grow and expand in the region. Despite the huge growth, there is still great amount of potential for LCCs in the Asia Pacific region. LCCs and hybrid airlines are capturing an increasing share of the growth in Asia and Abacus is committed to working with our airline partners as they continue to achieve even greater heights,” Mr Ho