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GORDON WILSON: Travelport GDS still offers both Galileo and Worldspan products, each with their own distributors worldwide, but the company will eventually offer “the best of both systems” to all users.

ATN Asked Gordon Wilson, CEO and president of newly-created entity Travelport GDS to outline the implications of the Galileo/Worldspan merger for agents using these systems.

What were the first steps taken after the Galileo/Worldspan merger deal was signed and sealed in August?

The first thing we needed to do when we completed the transaction was to get the new organisation in place. We now have a new company - Travelport GDS - offering two different products, Galileo and Worldspan, each with their own distributors.

We re-organised the company, making several changes to the structure, so now Europe, the Middle East and Africa is one region and we also have someone responsible for heading up our online travel agents, for example, because that's one aspect of our business that is growing quickly. We also have a new division - business development - to run research and incubate developments until they are ready to be integrated into the mainstream business.

Can you give examples of such cutting edge developments?

We are very conscious that a number of airlines around the world are unbundling their products. Air Canada is a leader in this area, offering four different product types, each with a number of attributes.

Historically, no GDS has been able to show these a la carte choices on the screen at one time, not both fares and availability simultaneously, but we are working with Air Canada on a system that can do that and will soon have a product for travel agencies that will go live in Canada.

You will be able to book any Air Canada content on the GDS.

This kind of ‘unbundling' is a low-cost carrier (LCC) strategy. Does this mean LCCs are finally embracing the GDS?

Yes, low-cost airlines are now starting to participate in the GDS. They are interested in [distributing to] corporate and international markets. You can now book easyJet (UK-based LCC) content on the Galileo screen. LCCs realise that they might be strong in their home markets but they need the GDS for international exposure. We now have 74 LCCs that are fully bookable on Galileo and have just signed a deal with Southwest Airlines - the original LCC. We plan to extend distribution to Worldspan.

What have been the benefits of buying Worldspan?

Worldspan has a more significant history building business for airlines.

We do the internal systems for Delta for example, which handle two million passengers per year. We also provide the internal systems for some smaller carriers, including Virgin America.

Buying Worldspan has also given us a deeper geographical penetration, because we now have one-third of the market share of Europe, Middle East and Africa; Asia Pacific, and North America. Worldspan has also brought new capabilities in terms of IT services.

For example, we have just implemented e-ticketing for our 200th carrier, China Southern and have created an electrical interchange hub to allow for interline e-ticketing. To date we have done 3900 interlines that are built into our GDS.

What changes will agents notice as a result of the Galileo/Worldspan merger?

We have started aligning some of the product, but we want to make it clear to our users that we will continue to use both systems in the Middle East and worldwide - it doesn't make sense to shift all our users to one system.

We will continue to work with the same distributors and customers will continue to have a choice of which system they want to adopt.

Our plan is to move towards having one hotel platform and one car rental platform for both Galileo and Worldspan by the end of 2008. It means we will take the best of both systems.

We also plan to align the fares and shopping capabilities early this year.The shopping capabilities of Worldspan are very good indeed, so we plan to implement that for all Galileo users.

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