Amadeus has been selected by 12 airlines from the Arab Air Carriers Organization (AACO) as their exclusive distribution partner in their respective home markets. The airlines will each establish 10-year distribution agreements with Amadeus, which will be effective on January 1, 2009.
Carriers include: Air Algérie, Afriqiyah Airways, EgyptAir, Etihad Airways, Kuwait Airways, Libyan Airlines, Qatar Airways, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Sudan Airways, Syrian Arab Airlines, Tunisair and Yemen Airways. The 12 airlines in the Middle East and North of Africa (MENA) area account for 66 percent of reservations made by travel agencies in the region. Six of the carriers had prior agreements with Amadeus.
Abdul Wahab Teffaha, secretary general of Arab Air Carriers Organization, commented: "The selection of Amadeus by 12 of our member airlines is a recognition of the synergy that these airlines, in partnership with Amadeus, will bring to the travel agents in our part of the world."
David Jones, Amadeus’ executive vice president, commercial, explained: "These agreements endorse our strategy to bring the most relevant airline content to travel agencies and also to provide the agents’ desktops with the latest technology." Amadeus provides technology to over 94,100 travel agency locations and 32,500 airline sales offices. Visit www.amadeus.com.