Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2012-09-07 — /travelprnews.com/ — Travelport, the business services provider to the global travel industry, today announces the completion of its KLM Economy Comfort seat rollout to all Galileo-connected travel agents in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. In March, Travelport became the first GDS to complete a live booking of a KLM Economy Comfort seat using the new EMD industry standard.
KLM Economy Comfort seats are fulfilled by Travelport using the new industry standard electronic miscellaneous document (EMD). This standard 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.
Marcel van Goch from the Global Fares Team, ATPI Netherlands, said: “We are delighted to be kept at the forefront of technology and content by working with Travelport. Introducing newest techniques into our existing travel booking procedures gives us the opportunity to provide better solutions for our customers and improve processes for our consultants.”
Marco Van Ieperen, Country Manager for Travelport Benelux, added: “This rollout is great news for travel agents as they continue to be able to offer the widest possible content and products to their customers. We are also obviously thrilled to have delivered this service for our airline partner, KLM.”
Over the past 16 months, Travelport has successfully integrated ancillary services seamlessly into agency points of sale for airlines including British Airways, Air Canada and United with more in the pipeline throughout 2012.
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Media Contacts
Matt Hennessey
Tel: +44 (0) 1753 288329
E-mail: matthew.hennessey@travelport.com
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 KLM
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines was founded in 1919, making it the world’s oldest airline operating under its original name. In 2004, Air France and KLM merged to form AIR FRANCE KLM. The merger produced the strongest European airline group based on two powerful brand names and hubs —Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and Paris Charles de Gaulle. The two airlines collaborate on three core activities while maintaining their own identities — passenger transport, cargo transport, and aircraft maintenance.
In the Netherlands, KLM comprises the core of the KLM Group which further includes KLM cityhopper, transavia.com en Martinair. KLM serves 135 destinations using a modern fleet of 158 aircraft and employs over 33,000 people around the world. KLM is a leader in the airline industry, which offers reliable operations and customer-oriented products resulting from its policy of enthusiasm and sustainable innovation.
KLM is a founding member of SkyTeam, the global airline alliance with 13 members providing access to an extensive global network with over 12,500 daily flights to 898 destinations in 169 countries. KLM participates in the industry’s leading trans-Atlantic joint venture with Air France, Delta and Alitalia. With nearly 250 daily trans-Atlantic flights and a fleet of 144 aircraft, the joint venture between AIR FRANCE-KLM, Alitalia and Delta Air Lines provides customers with the benefits of a vast route network offering more frequencies, competitive fares and harmonized services on all trans-Atlantic flights. The JV network is structured around seven main hubs: Amsterdam, Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis, New York-JFK, Paris-CDG and Rome Fiumicino, together with Cincinnati, Lyon, Milan, Memphis and Salt Lake City.