Travelport, the business services provider to the global travel industry, and Alitalia, Compagnia Aerea Italiana, today announce the implementation of a new agreement for the distribution of ancillary services to Travelport-connected agencies in Italy and worldwide. Fulfilled seamlessly via an electronic miscellaneous document (EMD), the new service will begin rollout in quarter four 2012, starting with travel agents in Italy.

“Launching this service with Alitalia is an important step in increasing their reach and delivering greater choice to agents and travellers. Retail techniques that were once considered the reserve of web and direct sales are now available through a new generation of agency points of sale,” says Robin Ranken, Head of Airline Relationships for Europe at Travelport. “We are committed to working with our airline partners to grow their ancillary revenues through the agency channel.”

Aldo Ponticelli, VP Distribution at Alitalia, said: “By distributing Alitalia ancillaries services   through Travelport, we have the opportunity to differentiate our product from other airlines and to communicate our value to our clients through the travel agency channel, contributing to our growth plan”.

Providing fulfillment via EMD completes the end-to-end process for travel agency distribution of airline ancillary services and forms part of Travelport’s wider merchandising offering. This offering enables a number of major airlines to sell their products in a more efficient and integrated way through travel agents.  Over the past 16 months, Travelport has seamlessly integrated ancillary services with a number of airlines into agency points of sale.