Travelport, Air Canada Sign Multi-Year Distribution Pact

Travelport has signed a new multi-year distribution agreement with Air Canada. At the same time, the GDS is pointing out that the carrier is an “industry leader” in ancillary services, which is at the core of a very public debate between airlines and GDSs over the future of airline distribution.

Some airlines, such as American, say that they want to develop “direct connect” reservations systems that display the right service to the right customer at the right time. Travelport’s agreement with Canada, which gives all Travelport travel agency customers, both offline and online, access to all fares, seat availability, fare families and optional services offered by Air Canada, shows that at least one carrier has recommitted to the GDS channel, the traditional marketplace for airline fares.

The new agreement covers Air Canada Flight Pass and Tango, Tango Plus, Latitude and Executive fare families, and provides the ability to purchase optional services such as paid seat assignments, pre-paid meals and Maple Leaf Lounge access, as well as other travel services. As part of the agreement, Travelport will launch an enhanced version of Travelport Agencia in Canada in the first half of 2011. Travelport Agencia is the travel agency desktop tool that aggregates traditional content and optional services from multiple sources, including the Travelport GDS interfacing with Air Canada’s ac2u API.

Travelport said the new agreement addresses Air Canada’s need for merchandising, the travel agency need for efficient processes, and the traveler’s desire for transparency. The agreement delivers solutions for all of the industry’s current issues and benefits all stakeholders, according to Travelport. Travelport Universal Desktop, which is currently in testing in Australia and will go into market deployment in 2011, also will allow Travelport customers outside of Canada to access Air Canada’s content and products.