Travel professionals and travellers alike will benefit from the Canadian flagship carrier’s implementation of the Amadeus Altea Suite in addition to a renewed distribution agreement. Air Canada will also implement a range of Amadeus solutions such as Anytime Merchandising, Group Management and Passenger Recovery.
MADRID and MONTREAL – Forward-thinking airlines understand that the critical combination of next-generation airline IT systems, along with the best global distribution capabilities and air travel content, are necessary to serve their customers and operate their business successfully.
Under a new agreement between Amadeus and Air Canada, Canada's largest airline is poised to harness the best of both in support of its business strategy to enhance customer experience, improve profitability and operational performance in support of its growing international network.
Air Canada has signed for the full Amadeus Altea Suite passenger service system (PSS) including reservations, inventory, and departure control solutions. The Amadeus Altea Suite, once fully implemented, will enable Air Canada to enhance customer experience by delivering more consistent and personalized customer service based on individual customer preferences and attributes, pursue additional revenue generating opportunities, and improve operational efficiency. To support Air Canada's international network, the Altea Suite will help Air Canada achieve closer integration with its codeshare partners and within the Star Alliance – more than two thirds of which are also Altea carriers.
In addition to these solutions, the carrier will implement a range of other Amadeus IT solutions such as Anytime Merchandising, Customer Experience Management, Payments, Revenue Integrity, Group Management and Passenger Recovery. With the implementation of Amadeus Anytime Merchandising, Air Canada will be able to propose personalized offers according to individual preferences. The combination of the Altea Suite and Amadeus Anytime Merchandising will, in particular, ensure that Air Canada is well equipped to address evolving industry initiatives such as IATA's New Distribution Capability (NDC).
At the same time, the renewed multi-year distribution agreement, signed in parallel to the Altea Suite agreement, supports Air Canada's focus on delivering a consistent brand and customer experience across channels, a key aspect of its international growth. Amadeus users worldwide will be able to access Air Canada's industry-leading customizable fare products and availability via the Amadeus global distribution system, as well as the carrier's ancillary offerings.
Today, Amadeus travel agencies can seamlessly book Air Canada's full range of branded fares and select ancillary services, such as Preferred and Advance seat options. Future end-to-end connectivity will also enable integration of the airline's Corporate Rewards, Flight Pass and dynamic pricing offers.
"This new agreement with Amadeus marks the evolution of what has been a long, successful and strategic partnership. We see the benefits of having a fully integrated IT and distribution strategy which brings the strongest distribution capabilities as well as next-generation airline IT services to our customers worldwide," said Lucie Guillemette, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, Air Canada. "This agreement supports Air Canada's business strategy for delivering a more personalized travel experience to improve customer service across all touchpoints to support and improve the profitability of our international expansion and improving how we sell, distribute and deliver our products and services. It will enable us to better integrate our systems with our codeshare and Star Alliance partners."
"With Amadeus as its partner, Air Canada will ultimately have in place a modern, flexible community-based IT platform, other business-critical technology solutions, and unsurpassed distribution of its fares and content around the world," said Julia Sattel, Senior Vice President, Airlines, Amadeus. "The benefits of using the Altea platform extend well beyond just the airline's operations. Amadeus-connected travel agents have the unique advantage of instant visibility to any changes affecting an Altea airline booking, meaning they can better service their customers. Importantly, for Amadeus, this agreement also marks an important milestone for us in terms of our continued growth and expansion in North America in particular, a region which continues to be strategically crucial for the whole company."
Air Canada is targeting full Altea Suite implementation in 2019. The renewed distribution agreement between Amadeus and Air Canada is effective immediately.
As of the first half 2017, 199 customers had contracted either of the Amadeus Passenger Service Systems (Altea or New Skies) and 189 had implemented either of Altea or New Skies.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
