Korean Air, South Korea’s flagship airline, and Amadeus, a leading transaction processor and provider of advanced technology solutions for the global travel and tourism industry, announced a partnership that will power the future of the Korean travel industry. Korean Air will transform its passenger service systems by migrating to the full suite of Amadeus’ Altea Customer Management Solution.

Furthermore, Korean Air’s subsidiary TOPAS, Korea’s leading travel information system provider, has selected Amadeus as the platform for its next generation travel agency reservation system.

Korean Air and Amadeus are joint shareholders of TOPAS but this is the first time that Amadeus technology will be widely introduced to the Korean travel industry. Together, the partners bring Amadeus’ leadership in the region to a completely new level.

A spokesperson for Korean Air said, “Korean Air and Amadeus have a long-standing relationship. We're confident this will help us continue to deliver an advanced level of customer service for our passengers and also integrate more closely with our partners in the Skyteam global alliance. We anticipate more seamless reservation processes, reduction in check-in times, the roll out of new technology options and more personalised flight services for Korean Air customers.

“This migration is in line with previous investments, such as introducing next-generation aircraft and establishing enterprise resource planning systems, in order to become a leading global carrier. With Amadeus’ new generation technology, Korean Air will elevate its premium service to the very highest standards,” said Korean Air.

Amadeus’ Altea Customer Management Solution has been selected by 110 of the world’s top airlines including Air France/KLM, Cathay Pacific, Lufthansa, British Airways and Qantas. Once migration is complete, Altea will be in place at all Korean Air offices and airports globally, and will manage all passenger processes for the airline, including reservations, inventory and departure control.

Mr Park MooHwa, CEO of Topas said, “At TOPAS we look forward to launching our next generation reservation system based on the Amadeus Selling Platform and GDS customised for the Korean market, which will increase efficiency for travel agents as well as providing new content options and therefore more sales opportunities.“

Amadeus Selling Platform is the world's most utilised retailing application for travel professionals, with almost 90,000 travel agency points of sale globally. The system offers content from more than 440 airlines, over 90,000 hotels and other travel suppliers including cruise, rail, insurance and car hire.

Amadeus and TOPAS will invest in customising their technology for the needs of the Korean market to create a system that combines the best processes of its current system with the enhanced functionality and content of the Amadeus Selling Platform.

According to David Brett, President Amadeus Asia, Amadeus is very pleased to extend its partnership with Korean Air and TOPAS.

“Amadeus has worked closely with Korean Air for many years, selling its flight content through our GDS to travel agents worldwide, and we have been a joint venture partner with TOPAS for more than 12 years,” said David. “Today we are delighted to take this partnership and our leadership in the region, to a completely new level, providing our technology expertise to manage Korean Air’s passenger processes, as well as our GDS platform to process all of TOPAS’ agency bookings. The TOPAS migration to the Amadeus GDS will mean that Amadeus will handle more than 50% of all travel agency bookings in Korea, allowing Amadeus to work with the vast majority of Korean travel agencies.”

David continued, “Amadeus is happy to have been selected by Korean Air, one of the largest Asian carriers, and we are proud to become a key player in the large growing market that Korea represents.”