Formally launched in December 2000, Atinera embarked on an aggressive strategy to become a leading provider of travel technology worldwide. In May 2001 the company purchased TraveLease, a provider of hosted automation solutions to small and mid-sized tour operators in North America.
In October 2001 Atinera opened its European headquarters outside London, UK. In conjunction with its launch in Europe, Atinera also announced its first customer in that market, Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS). The principal airline and travel provider in Scandinavia, SAS will use the Atinera solution to create and deliver reservation, inventory and automation processes for Fly and Stay, a new leisure tour operator for its Pleasure brand.
Atinera continued its international expansion into the Asia Pacific region the very next month with its purchase of Atlas from Amadeus Australia. The acquisition gives Atinera a powerful market entry into the Asia Pacific region with a state-of-the-art data centre in Brisbane, and a team of employees with over 15 years of experience delivering hosted technology solutions to leading tour operators and travel suppliers across Australia.
In December 2001, Atinera ended a successful first year of operations with the deployment of FDS' Contour(r) technology for Travelocity.com, the leading travel Web site. Travelocity.com will use Atinera to service select reservations – which consist of multiple travel components such as air, hotel, car and transfers across several distribution channels – made under the Travelocity Vacations brand to its most popular vacation destinations.
"Amadeus and FDS formed Atinera in December 2000 to take advantage of the tremendous opportunity to serve the technology needs of the leisure travel industry," said Philippe Chereque, Chairman of Atinera and Senior Vice President, Corporate Strategy of Amadeus. "With the selection of Atinera by world-leading travel companies plus an impressive pipeline of opportunities, we anticipate that 2002 will establish Atinera as the partner of choice for a significant segment of the leisure travel industry."
"Our joint venture with Amadeus has in a single year grown into an exceptional provider of technology solutions and services that serves leading travel companies around the globe. We are delighted with the progress and promise that Atinera has shown, and we look forward to the continued growth and success of the venture," said Ilya Pavolotsky, Chief Operating Officer, FDS. "We are very excited that Travelocity.com has selected Contour technology and Atinera in its strategy to pursue and develop new market opportunities."
Contour, FDS' enterprise software solution for the travel industry, runs on the Compaq NonStop (Himalaya) computing platform.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
