ETW Staff- Mumbai
Southwest Airlines and Amadeus IT Group have announced that they have entered into a joint contract for Amadeus’ Altéa reservations solution that will support the carrier’s domestic service. Amadeus’ Altéa reservations solution currently supports the Company’s international service, and Southwest has long indicated a desire to operate just one reservation system, operating multiple systems following the acquisition of AirTran and the launch of international service on Southwest.
Gary Kelly, chairman, president, and CEO, Southwest Airlines, said, “We are the largest domestic carrier in the United States, and we believe having one reservation system will provide a better operation for our employees and our customers as we embark on our very bright future domestically and abroad.”
Over the next few years, Southwest and Amadeus will partner to move to a single reservation system. Until then, the airline will continue with two reservation platforms after the sunset of the AirTran brand in December 2014.
Luis Maroto, president and CEO, Amadeus, said, “We are extremely pleased to have been selected by Southwest. We are confident that Southwest will enrich our global airline community and look forward to their active involvement and contributions to the future evolution of the Altéa platform.”
After two years of work, Southwest began selling international itineraries in January 2014 using Amadeus’ Altéa reservation solution. The carrier will begin flying those itineraries on July 1, 2014. Amadeus has more than 100 airlines on their reservation system—mostly based in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Once implemented, Southwest will be Amadeus’ largest airline IT partner worldwide in terms of passengers boarded.
Julia Sattel, senior vice president, Airline IT, Amadeus, said, “We’ve had the distinct pleasure of working with Southwest to support its international flying, and we are excited to now expand our successful partnership to include domestic flying. Our joint success to date is due in no small part to the complementary cultures of our two organisations, our shared respect for our team members, and a relentless focus on execution and delivery.”
