IT provider bullish on Phl airline industry

MANILA, Philippines - Information technology provider Amadeus said it is bullish on the prospects of the airline industry in the Philippines as the country’s resilient economy continues to spur airline travel.

Amadeus president for Asia Pacific David Brett said in an interview that prospects for the airline industry in the Philippines are encouraging unlike in other countries in Europe and the US that are facing economic difficulties.

“People are very positive about the developments in the industry here. This is in contrast with a lot of other countries where the people are seeing the results of the economy dragging down the industry,” he stressed.

He pointed out that the Philippine economy is doing well, encouraging more investors to set up shop in the country.

The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 6.1 percent in the first half of the year, exceeding the government target of between five percent and six percent.

“The economy is doing very well and the credibility of the Philippines is encouraging more transactions and more people to set up business here and more people to come here,” he added.

According to him, intra-Asian travel has been improving as it is easier to travel in the region than the US and Europe.

“The general atmosphere is upbeat because they see strong signs in the economy.

Travel is a very good bellwether for the economy,” he added.

Amadeus is a leading transaction processor for the global travel and tourism industry, providing transaction processing power and technology solutions to both travel providers (including full service carriers and low-cost airlines, hotels, rail operators, cruise and ferry operators, car rental companies and tour operators) and travel agencies (both online and offline).

It acts both as a worldwide network connecting travel providers and travel agencies through a highly effective processing platform for the distribution of travel products and services and as a provider of a comprehensive portfolio of IT solutions which automate certain mission-critical business processes, such as reservations, inventory management and operations for travel providers.

Amadeus operates under a transaction-based business model that offers IT solutions to virtually all players in the travel industry allowing travel companies to convert certain of their fixed IT and distribution costs into variable costs.

Amadeus’ distribution and IT solutions have been designed to facilitate all of the key stages of domestic and international travel and include technologies that cover itinerary planning, fare-searching, reservations, ticketing, airlines schedule and inventory control, passenger check-in and departure control and certain post-travel solutions.

At a market level, Amadeus maintains customer operations through 73 local Amadeus commercial organizations covering 195 countries.

Amadeus is the preferred global distribution service provider among Philippine based travel agencies. It continues to sign new agreements with new travel agencies or extend current agreements with those that are currently using its platform.

It is providing services and solutions to local carriers including AirAsia, Cebu Pacific and Zest Air.

Brett also met with Philippine Airlines president and chief operating officer Ramon S. Ang to offer the company’s services to the airlines that currently inked a $10 billion deal to acquire 65 Airbus aircraft.

Amadeus introduced to local travel agencies its mobile access solution which is the smartphone and tablet version of the Amadeus selling platform. More solutions are expected to be rolled out in the Philippines next year.