Amadeus e-Travel today announced that
online travel bookings made by its corporate customers through e-Travel
Aergo grew by 76 percent globally during 2004.With tens of millions of euros budgeted for research and development in our
online solutions in 2005, Aergo continues to be the world’s leading
corporations’  self-booking tool of choice.  Over the past twelve months,
e-Travel has attracted a number of new clients including, amongst others:
Oil and gas giant Total; Thales, an international electronics and systems
group that serves the defence, aerospace, services and security markets,
Siam Cement, Thailand’s largest industrial conglomerate; and Bavaria-Lloyd
Reisebuero, who undertake the corporate travel arrangements for the BMW
Group.

Additionally, e-Travel has been working with a number of Government
organisations worldwide to help them manage their travel programmes and
drive adoption post implementation.  The CNFPT (Centre National de la
Fonction Publique Territoriale), an organisation entrusted with the
management of training for government officials in France, chose Aergo to
manage the business travel of its 2,000 employees in a cost and time
effective way.  Governments in Denmark and Sweden are also using Aergo.

e-Travel customers enjoy some of the highest adoption rates (percentage of
trips booked online versus traditional phone bookings) in the industry,
assisted by e-Travel dedicated adoption consulting programmes.  Following
the success with e-Travel online bookings in the US, the Oracle Corporation,
has successfully rolled out Aergo in 10 European countries with up to 80%
adoption rates.

Rounding out e-Travel’s portfolio solutions for corporate travel management
is SAP Travel Management powered by e-Travel, which in 2004 experienced a
50 per cent growth thanks to growing adoption and new corporate customers
who have signed up for this solution and fully integrated it into their
enterprise resource planning (ERP) landscape. 

Ian Wheeler, Vice President Marketing and Acting Managing Director, Amadeus
e-Travel, says: “Over the past twelve months e-Travel has seen a significant
increase in the volume of bookings by corporations and we expect to see this
trend continuing.  Travel managers are increasingly under pressure to manage
their travel spend, which is resulting in changes in how travel is brought
and supplier relationships are managed. 

“As internet penetration increases and people become more used to booking
online, e-Travel is seeing business travellers increasingly moving towards
using the web for booking simple itineraries.  At the same time, travel
managers are increasingly stepping back from the logistical elements of
booking employee travel, which enables them to concentrate on their
company’s travel policy and negotiating special deals for their employees.

With the increased adoption of online travel tools, e-Travel is also seeing
growth across other traveller support solutions they offer.  With real-time
access to travel itineraries a must for travellers, e-Travel experienced
growth of 46 percent on Checkmytrip.com whilst amadeus.net, the only free
unbiased website from airline schedule information, experienced growth of
53% during 2004.
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