Turkish Airlines Inks Deal with Travelport

Turkish Airlines on Wednesday announced it had inked a deal with Travelport to keep its content with the GDS, just as Sabre removes Turkish Airlines from its offerings.

The deal with Travelport is a long-term agreement that will get Turkish Airlines’ content on Travelport+, including access to its group offers for users.

“Our expansion of services with Turkish Airlines confirms the value that our modern retailing solutions provide Travelport’s airline partners so that they can seamlessly manage products and tailor unique offers for agencies,” said Chris Ramm, Vice President of Air Partners – EMEA, India and Global Sales Strategy at Travelport.

“Our ability to provide the solutions that our air partners need to elevate their modern distribution capabilities cements Travelport’s role within the industry as a leader in modern travel retailing.”

Whether or not this impacts Sabre being open to a new deal with Turkish, which it said even as it was dropping the carrier, remains to be seen. TMR confirmed with users this week that Sabre did drop all Turkish Airlines content on Sept. 1 and that existing reservations that will require tickets to be issued or reissued need to be done directly with the airline, as will any modifications or cancellations.