Thalys will be available alongside airlines on selected routes in the Amadeus neutral booking display for travel agents and corporate bookers
Madrid, Spain, 2013-03-06 — /travelprnews.com/ — Amadeus, a leading technology partner for the global travel industry, and Thalys, the international high-speed rail operator connecting Paris and Brussels with Germany and the Netherlands, announce today a partnership agreement to distribute Thalys’ services through Amadeus’ global distribution system, starting in Germany.
Users of Amadeus Selling Platform, Amadeus’ point of sale for travel agents, and Amadeus e-Travel Management, the company self-booking tool for corporate users, will have access to the full range of Thalys’ fares, including corporate negotiated fares, schedules and availability to effectively compare Thalys high speed rail services with flights on specific routes. Thalys will be presented as a real alternative to air travel, giving the railway better market exposure, and ensuring that travellers have greater choice and transparency of options.
Travellers will also benefit from additional advantages, such as the possibility of booking a complete ticketless train travel experience using Thalys Ticketless (TKL) – that permits to travel without a paper ticket – or collecting Miles on Thalys’ loyalty programme TheCard.
The addition of Thalys into the Amadeus booking flow will permit travel agents to benefit from a more simple and faster booking process as well as from increased productivity and efficiency, thanks to automatic integration into the Amadeus Passenger Name Record (PNR ) and IATA’s Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP).
This agreement is a step forward in Thalys’ strategy to expand its international distribution reach, to grasp new market segments such as corporations whilst improving distribution beyond traditional channels. Moreover, for the future it enables Thalys to develop interline agreements with airlines, allowing travel agents to combine a flight with a high-speed rail link on the same ticket or to combine rail and air services with hotel & car.
Scheherazade Zekri-Chevallet, Chief Commercial and Marketing Officer, Thalys, commented “We are glad to work with Amadeus as our distribution partner for travel agencies and corporations. This agreement will allow us to compete with short-haul air travel, facilitating travel agents’ access to our public and corporate fares, and schedules whilst giving Thalys access to new revenue opportunities.”
Thomas Drexler, Director of Amadeus Rail, commented: “With the addition of Thalys to Amadeus’ global distribution system, Amadeus continues to build the most complete and relevant rail offering for the travel agency community. We are proud to have the only multi-channel rail-dedicated distribution platform that is helping railways to expand their international distribution.”
Notes to the editors:
About Thalys
Thalys is the red high-speed train which connects Brussels with Paris in 1 hour 22 minutes and Brussels with Cologne and Amsterdam in 1 hour 47 minutes and 1 hour 53 minutes. As of 29 August 2011, Thalys has three new German destinations: Düsseldorf, Duisburg and Essen. As of 30 October 2011 there is a daily connection between Brussels Midi, Brussels international airport and Paris Nord.
Thalys is a member of Railteam, a collaborative venture between the most important European high-speed operators, CER (Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies) and UIC (Union Internationale des Chemins de Fer).
The baseline “Welcome to our world” is the motto of the brand name and it reflects the values underlying the companies’ service towards its customers. All Thalys trains have WiFi (a service which is provided by 21Net and conducted by Nokia Siemens Networks) and have been completely modernised with a new design and improved comfort. Catering services are provided to your seat in Comfort Class 1 and are available in the Thalys Welcome Bar in Comfort Class 2.
The Thalys TheCard loyalty programme makes it possible to collect Miles and gain access to a range of services. This card is available to all travellers at www.thalys.com
About Amadeus Rail
Amadeus Rail is the business unit dedicated to serving the needs of railways around the world, connecting over 90 railways to a multi-channel sales network whilst also providing IT services. Amadeus Rail employs over 250 rail experts in five competence centres (Nice, Bad Homburg, Sydney, Toronto and Madrid).
Amadeus is committed to making booking rail easier and is developing the first ever rail-dedicated fully integrated sales platform, bringing rail travel to a greater number of potential passengers. The Global Rail Sales Platform already connects travel agencies, TMCs, online travel agencies and corporations with SNCF, Eurostar, Thalys, Lyria, Trenitalia and SJ, with more key European railways to come. For more information, please visit www.amadeusrail.net.
About Amadeus
Amadeus is a leading provider of advanced technology solutions for the global travel industry. Customer groups include travel providers (e.g. airlines, hotels, rail and ferry operators, etc.), travel sellers (travel agencies and websites), and travel buyers (corporations and travel management companies).
The Amadeus group employs around 10,000 people worldwide, across central sites in Madrid (corporate headquarters), Nice (development) and Erding (operations), as well as 73 local Amadeus Commercial Organisations globally.
The group operates a transaction-based business model. For the year ended December 31, 2012 the company reported like-for-like revenues of €2,910.3 million and an EBITDA of €1,107.7 million.
Amadeus is listed on the Spanish Stock Exchange under the symbol “AMS.MC” and is a component of the IBEX 35 index. To find out more about Amadeus please visit www.amadeus.com
Contact details:
Amadeus
Corporate Communication
Telephone: +34 91 582 0160
Fax: +34 91 582 0188
Email: mediarelations@amadeus.com
Thalys
Patricia Baars
Public Relations Manager
Telephone: +32 2 504 05 99
Email: presse-deutschland@thalys.com