Amadeus Market Share Rises Again

Amadeus picked up another 1.7 percentage points in worldwide market share in 2015, chief executive officer Luis Maroto said, bringing its share to 42.5%. It was the company’s biggest share leap in several years. 

In a conference call with investment analysts, Maroto said the year was a particularly strong one for distribution. The GDS industry’s travel-agency air bookings grew 3.9%; Amadeus’ agency air bookings grew 8.3%, to 505 million.  

North America continued to be the fastest-growing region for air bookings, due largely to its deals with online travel agencies such as Expedia and Orbitz. However, it remains the smallest GDS in the region. 

In the fourth quarter, its air booking growth slowed to 4.6% in the fourth quarter, while the industry’s growth slowed to 1.8%. 

Maroto cited a general “deceleration” of air bookings. In addition, quarterly comparisons suffered because the migration of South Korea’s Topas system to the Amadeus platform ended in the third quarter. 

Amadeus signed new or renewed content agreements with eight airlines in the fourth quarter, and Maroto said he saw no sign that Lufthansa’s GDS surcharge strategy was contemplated by other carriers. Once a carrier signs a content agreement, it is prevented from adopting such a strategy for the length of the contract, usually three or five years. 

Maroto said the company is seeing traction with its merchandising solutions: 135 airlines have contracted for Amadeus Ancillary services, with 101 implemented. In addition, 29 airlines have contracted for Amadeus Fare Families, with 22 implemented. 

Currently, 45% of the air bookings transacted by travel agents through the Amadeus system are enabled for the sale of merchandising products. And agents are selling them, with a 100% increase in agency sales in 2015, although admittedly the growth sprouted from a very small base. 

The number of online travel agencies with Amadeus ancillaries integrated into their systems tripled in 2015.  

Amadeus reported net income of €685.9 million ($749.8 million) for the full year, up 8.5%.  Distribution revenue increased 11.5%, to €2.73 billion ($2.98 billion). Revenue from IT solutions, which includes the Amadeus Altéa passenger services system, increased 22.1%, to €1.17 billion ($1.28 billion). 

For the fourth quarter, Amadeus reported net income of €120.4 million ($131.2 million), up 6.3%, on total revenue of €947.9 million ($1.03 billion).