Atlanta, 2013-03-04 — /travelprnews.com/ — Travelport, the business services provider to the global travel industry, today announces a new long-term IT services agreement with Volotea, the new low-cost European carrier headquartered in Barcelona, Spain. Volotea, which commenced operations in April 2012, is the newest participant in Travelport’s electronic ticket database hosting service, and has also joined the Travelport E-Ticket Interchange™. The technologies are central to Volotea’s growth and expansion plans through more distribution channels, including global distribution systems (GDS).
Travelport’s e-ticket database hosting service, the Travelport ETDBase™, is in use by airlines globally to quickly implement e-ticketing, and store and manage e-ticket data for online and interline e-ticketing (IET). The solution makes interline connections a cost-effective process, yet allows airlines to maintain control over their own interline agreements. The Travelport E-Ticket Interchange™, one of the largest global e-ticketing facilities for the exchange of interline e-ticket messages between airline partners, including ground handlers, supports nearly 420 participants and over 6,000 interline/codeshare agreements, processing over 55 million messages monthly.
“Travelport technologies have solved business issues and removed barriers to growth by eliminating IT complexities, yet enabling us to compete in any channel, with any airline, by using the most advanced e-ticket and interline solutions,” said Alex de Jesús, Volotea’s CIO.
“We are pleased to partner with Volotea in providing the best tools available for e-ticket database hosting, and easy connections to their chosen industry partners,” said Derek Sharp, Travelport, managing director, Global Distribution Sales & Services, Travelport. “Airlines need rapid deployment and proven tools, but also flexibility that adheres to unique processes. Travelport IT solutions allow Volotea to remain true to its unique business and financial model.”
Through Travelport’s IT partnership with Navitaire®, Volotea’s host system provider, Volotea is combining connectivity tools and capabilities deployed by top airlines worldwide in the distribution channels of Volotea’s choice.
Travelport designed the airline industry’s first proven suite of messaging ‘interchanges’ allowing fast, easy connections to airline partners through a rapid deployment methodology. The
Travelport Interchange Suite™ helps airlines expand partnerships, connectivity and sales by eliminating an airline’s need to build and maintain its own interline connections to airlines, passenger service systems and travel industry partners. The portfolio complies with industry standards, and existing links are already established with virtually every airline, passenger service system, GDS and ground handler in the world.
For more information, visit: http://www.travelport.com/Products/Travelport-Interchange-Suite
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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
About Volotea (www.volotea.com)
Volotea is the new low-cost airline specialized in linking Europe’s medium and small cities, connecting them directly without going through major hubs. This provides economic benefits to cities directly connected, because traffic is strongly stimulated by the ease and efficiency of direct flights.
The company, whose corporate headquarters are in Barcelona, operates from two bases in Nantes and Venice’s Marco Polo Airport and, from March 2013, from Bordeaux and Palermo.
Volotea has been founded by Carlos Muñoz and Lázaro Ros (CEO and general director, respectively) who also founded Vueling Airlines, today one of the major low-cost airlines in Europe.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Jill Brenner
Travelport Corporate Communications
973-753.3110
Alfons Claver
Volotea
+34 93 11 717 77