British Airways and Amadeus today announced they were extending their existing relationship for another 10 years until 2017. 

The new agreement covers the entire IT Services relationship between British Airways and Amadeus, and is the continuation of the strategic arrangement which started in 2000 between the two companies, designed to provide British Airways with a ‘new generation’ technology platform for the management of passenger services. 
 
As a result, Amadeus, with British Airways as a launch customer, developed the Altea Customer Management Solution comprising three fully integrated modules: Altea Reservation for distribution through British Airways’ sales outlets, Altea Inventory for global inventory management and Altea Departure Control for passenger check-in and flight departure management.
 
Today, British Airways uses the Altea Reservation and Inventory systems which work in conjunction with British Airways’ own website ba.com and Revenue Management systems. 
 
The new agreement with Amadeus sets out the terms under which British Airways would move to the newly developed Altea Departure Control - Customer Management system for passenger check-in, thereby completing the Altea suite.
 
Further, British Airways has now also finalised the evaluation of Altea Departure Control - Flight Management for flight departure operations, in open competition with other competing products and selected the Amadeus solution. British Airways and Amadeus are now jointly engaging to scope and plan implementation of the Altea Departure Control systems.
 
Paul Coby CIO of British Airways said: “I am delighted that we have been able to extend our strategic relationship with Amadeus which started in 2000. The Altea Reservation and Inventory systems have been great support for our drive to develop our sales and services to customers.”
 
British Airways plans to complete migration to the full Altea suite in 2012. British Airways also currently uses Amadeus e-Ticket Server to manage its e-ticketing operations and Amadeus Flex Pricer to enhance the experience of booking connecting flight itineraries through .
 
Commenting on the agreement, David Jones, Amadeus’ Executive Vice President, Commercial said: “We are very pleased that British Airways has chosen to reconfirm their confidence in our solutions, both by extending their use of the installed systems and adding new ones to them. We look forward to the full deployment of the full Altea platform for British Airways.”