LONDON: Travelport, the leading travel commerce platform, announced today that it has won a competitive tender process undertaken by Air India for the sole provision of distribution of its domestic flight content in the airline’s home market.
The contract awarded to Travelport came after a comprehensive bidding process. It will begin to come into effect from November 2018 and be fully implemented by the end of 2019.
The agreement confirms Air India’s continued deployment of Travelport Rich Content and Branding, now used by over 270 airlines. This displays airlines’ graphical content, their fares families and a full range of ancillary products. It means that Travelport will provide the same content as Air India’s own direct-selling channels.
Air India is the country’s flag air carrier with a leading position in international and domestic operations. Along with Air India Express, it has 43 per cent share of the international traffic to and from India among Indian carriers and a 17 per cent share, including global airlines, as of Q3 CY17. It is a member of the Star Alliance and is a pioneer of India’s civil aviation sector, being the first scheduled airline in India, enjoying a rich heritage of over 85 years.
Travelport has seen a rapid expansion in India in recent years following the acquisition of business from the largest online travel agencies such as MakeMyTrip, Ibibo, Yatra, EaseMyTrip and ClearTrip as well as working with the major corporate travel agencies and new entrants to the travel sector such as PayTM.
In addition to industry-leading airline content, Travelport has also expanded its footprint and capabilities with leading hotel groups and aggregators in India such as Oberoi, Taj, Treebo and Trident.
