Amadeus’ Market Share Grows To Nearly 44%
by Michele McDonald /Photo:
Amadeus’ share of travel agency air bookings increased by 1.3 percentage points, to 43.8%, in the second quarter.
Air bookings made by Amadeus-connected travel agencies grew 5% in the first half, to 279.3 million, outperforming the 2.2% growth by the GDS industry as a whole.
Non-air bookings were down 2.2%, due to a decline in rail travel, although hotels continued to perform well.
The Asia-Pacific region and North America were the top performers in the second half of the year, with some countries, such as South Korea, India, Hong Kong and the Philippines “well ahead of what we expected,” chief executive officer Luis Maroto said.
Western Europe, Amadeus’ largest source of bookings, grew moderately, reversing a trend.
Amadeus is focused on growing its airline merchandising solutions business, Maroto said.
By the end of June, 63% of air bookings processed through Amadeus could support an attached ancillary service, and 110 airlines had contracted for Amadeus Airline Ancillary Services for the indirect channel.
In addition, Amadeus had 39 contracts signed for its Fare Families solution, with 30 implemented.
Amadeus reported profit of €233.8 million (about $262.5 million) for the second quarter, up 23.7% from second quarter 2015, on revenues of €1.15 billion (about $1.29 billion), up 17%.
It reported profit of €451 million (about $506.2 million) for the first half of 2016, up 15.2% from the first half of 2015, on revenues of €2.27 billion (about $2.54 billion), up 15.1%
Distribution revenue grew 7.5% in the first half, to €1.5 billion (about $1.68 billion).
The strong numbers and positive trends beat the company’s expectations.
But chief executive officer Luis Maroto said Amadeus will not revise its guidance to investors in light of the uncertainty posed by terrorism and the U.K.’s expected departure from the European Union.
The concerns over Brexit are “not so much related to our business in the U.K. but to the global economy,” he said.