Amadeus and Air India have signed a new distribution deal, ending a protracted period of talks after the carrier withdrew its inventory from the global distribution system.
In late-2018, the Indian government-owned carrier announced it would be reducing its presence on global distribution systems and awarded Travelport sole distribution rights of its domestic inventory.
Legal proceedings from Amadeus began in 2018, as it tried to renegotiate the agreement, although the Spain-based company later dropped the case.
Fast forward a year and the pair have now forged a new relationship enabling travel sellers in India to access international content and retailers in the rest of the world to access both domestic and international from Air India.
Amadeus says: “In light of the agreement that we have now reached with the airline, and in the belief that this agreement heralds the start of a new and positive relationship with the airline, we have agreed to drop the case.”
Last week, an announcement from Sabre announced that Air India content would no longer be available in the GDS.
Sabre says it attempted to negotiate a new deal with Air India for the “better part of a year.” The GDS was close to a deal last October but the agreement never went ahead.
Sabre adds that it will continue to work with Air India on a new agreement.
The announcement of the deal by Amadeus came after an earlier note circulated by Air India to its agency customers, and seen by Phocuswire, saying an agreement with Amadeus had been made and inventory would be soon available via the platform.
Meenakshi Mallik, commercial director for Air India, says in a press statement: “We are pleased to renew our relationship with Amadeus to support our growth strategy globally and hope that this is the first step in our new journey together, we look forward to working closer with Amadeus to support agencies and travelers in the future.”
