Atlanta,2012-11-15 — /travelprnews.com/ — Travelport, the business services provider to the global travel industry, today announces new long-term IT agreements with Azul Brazilian Airlines, the third-largest and fastest-growing airline in Brazil. Azul is deploying Travelport’s interline e-ticketing (IET) and through check-in solutions that will move Azul to one of the airline industry’s largest platforms for the exchange and processing of IET and Inter-host Through Check-In (IATCI) messages between airlines and their interline/codeshare partners. Through the agreements, Azul will offer customers interline and check-in capabilities in use by global network airlines to seamlessly serve passengers through Azul’s partner network and any travel distribution channel.
Azul is the newest participant in Travelport’s e-ticket database hosting service (Travelport ETDBase), a solution in use by hundreds of airlines fostering and managing e-ticket data for online and interline e-ticketing. Azul also joins the Travelport E-Ticket Interchange, one of the largest global e-ticketing facilities for the exchange of interline e-ticket messages between participating airlines’ networks, including airline partners, rail partners, ground handlers and global distribution systems (GDS). This platform, which greatly accelerates interline connectivity between airlines and their partners, currently supports more than 420 participants and over 6,000 interline/codeshare agreements, while processing over 650 million IET messages annually.
Through the Travelport Check-In Interchange, Azul will gain critical functionality to allow its reservation agents and travel agents to assign seats and issue boarding passes for traveler connections on partner and codeshare flights. The Travelport Check-In Interchange already has connectivity to approximately 20 different airline departure control systems (DCS) around the world for seamless through check-in. The Travelport Check-in Interchange manages all IATCI messages between partners, mitigates an airline’s risk of changing messaging technology, improves time-to-market and lowers airlines’ costs to deploy IATCI.
“We knew from speaking to other airlines that Travelport could help drive innovation in our own service offerings,” said Trey Urbahn, chief revenue officer, Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras. “The best solutions are key, but so are affordability and operating within a single system, and each goal is being met. Innovation and integration with our host provider make us well equipped to serve passengers in the rapidly expanding domestic market, and internationally.”
“Azul’s mission has always been to provide the best passenger services at the best prices, and Travelport is fully on board with their unique strategy and requirements,” said Derek Sharp, Travelport group vice president and managing director, Global Distribution Sales and Services. “Our refined implementation processes place Azul in the best position to establish e-ticketing and interline partnerships, and increase distribution in any channel.”
Travelport designed the airline industry’s first suite of messaging ‘interchanges’ (Travelport Interchange Suite™) allowing fast, easy connections to airline partners through a rapid deployment methodology. Today, these advanced solutions offer low-cost airlines a cost-effective means to adopt network airline technologies and compete on par with the world’s major carriers: http://www.travelport.com/Products/Travelport-Interchange-Suite
About Travelport (www.travelport.com)
Travelport is a broad-based business services company and a leading provider of critical transaction processing solutions to companies operating in the global travel industry.
With a presence in over 170 countries, approximately 3,500 employees and 2011 net revenue of $2.0 billion, Travelport is comprised of the global distribution systems (GDS) business, which includes the Galileo and Worldspan brands and its Airline IT Solutions business.
Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Travelport is a privately owned company.
Follow Travelport on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Travelport
Media Contacts
Jill Brenner
Senior Director
Corporate Communications, The Americas
Travelport
jill.brenner@travelport.com
Phone: 1.973.939-1325
###