Amadeus ‘Outperforms” GDS Industry In Third Quarter

Amadeus said it outperformed the GDS industry as a whole in the third quarter and grew its worldwide market share to 40.5%, a gain of 0.8 percentage points.

That gain was largely fueled by the migration of Topas, a Korean travel information system provider, to the Amadeus GDS platform, according to Amadeus.

Air bookings made by Amadeus travel agents grew 6.1%, to 114.3 million, in the third quarter. The industry’s air bookings grew 4%.

Non-air bookings grew 3.5%, to 14.2 million. Total bookings grew 5.8%, to 128.5 million.

In North America, the fastest growing region for Amadeus, market share gains fueled 14.6% growth in travel agency air bookings.

Latin America proved to be the weakest region for the company, with a 2.3% decline in agency air bookings.

Expanding content
In a telephone discussion of the company’s earnings with investment analysts, chief executive Luis Maroto said Amadeus continues to broaden its airline content, including the fares and schedules of low-cost carriers that link to the Amadeus Selling Platform via XML to benefit from agency distribution.

He also noted that Amadeus completed the first implementation of an NDC-compliant connection in the North American marketplace in the third quarter. It integrated United’s Economy Plus seating option into its selling platform using IATA’s “New Distribution Capability” technical standard.

Amadeus is continuing its commitment to research and development, investing 10.2 % of its revenue in R&D this year.

Profits
Amadeus reported a net profit of €176.7 million ($218.7 million) for the third quarter. Excluding the effects on results of several recent acquisitions – Newmarket International, UFIS and i:FAO – its profit was €172 million ($212.8 million) a 6.4% increase over third quarter 2013.

Revenues, excluding revenues from the acquisitions, increased 7.9%, to €827.5 million ($1.02 billion). Revenues generated by the distribution side of the business increased 3.2%, to €586.4 million ($725.8 million).

Amadeus also operates an IT division, which includes Altéa, the largest airline passenger services system provider in the world. The division also is developing technology for hotels and airports.

The IT division generated €241.1 million ($298.4 million) in third-quarter revenue, an increase of 21.2%.