UK leisure bookings boost Travelport Q2 earnings

Travelport reported a 7% rise in revenue and 5% increase in operating profit in the three months to the end of June.

Travelport reported a 7% rise in revenue and 5% increase in operating profit in the three months to the end of June.


The year-on-year profit growth was adjusted to take account of the loss of a master services agreement with United Airlines which skewed Travelport’s results over the previous year.


Travelport president and chief executive Gordon Wilson said the improved performance came off the back of increased leisure bookings, particularly in the UK.


He reported UK air transactions across the major global distribution systems (GDSs) up 9% year on year in the second quarter.


That contrasted with a second-quarter rise in air transactions of 4% in the Nordic countries and a fall of 3% year on year in Germany – Europe’s biggest travel market.


The parent of global distribution systems (GDSs) Worldspan, Galileo and Apollo, Travelport reported 5% growth in revenue and 5% rise in adjusted operating profit for the year to date.


Wilson described the latest results as “solid” and said: “They clearly demonstrate the momentum we’ve built around new product innovation.”


He told Travolution: “The UK is outperforming the rest of Europe.” UK transactions for the first six months of the year were up 6% on 2012.


Travelport’s loss of its United Airlines agreement followed the US carrier’s merger with Continental, with the merged airline making a choice between GDS suppliers of its in-house reservations system.


Wilson said: “There was a significant impact on the first quarter but the impact on the second was marginal.”