EasyJet has reinforced its credentials with the business travel community by renewing its distribution deal with Travelport.
EasyJet renews Travelport distribution deal
EasyJet has reinforced its credentials with the business travel community by renewing its distribution deal with Travelport.
The move by the budget carrier came as rival Ryanair changed tack with plans to works with GDSs from the summer.
The new agreement by easyJet means that Travelport–connected travel agencies can access and book all the airline’s flights, including Flexi Fares and Inclusive Fares.
EasyJet’s recently launched Inclusive Fare, which includes seat selection, is only available through the GDS and other booking systems connected to the carrier’s API.
Travelport’s Worldspan and Apollo GDS systems will provide access to easyJet fares later this year in addition to Galileo.
The airline is also working with the technology company to deploy its rich content and branding technology, a further component of the Travelport Merchandising Platform. This will allow easyJet to control how its content and ancillaries are visually presented and described to agents.
EasyJet was launch partner last April for Travelport’s aggregated shopping technology which allows agents to shop, price and book fares and ancillaries from the carrier in a common workflow regardless of the technology used to aggregate that content.
The two companies have worked together since 2007 – one of easyJet’s first deals with a third party distribution channel.
The airline’s sales, distribution and business director Andy Hodges said: “We are delighted to have renewed our deal with Travelport – its extensive global footprint provides us with an efficient distribution channel for our popular low-fares, including the Inclusive Fare and Flexi Fare, especially to the managed corporate travel market.
“We look forward to working with Travelport to bring easy and affordable travel to even more passengers.”
Travelport UK and Ireland regional director Simon Ferguson said: “Both easyJet and Travelport’s sales teams have worked collaboratively over the course of 2013 to ensure that UK agents are fully aware of the availability of easyJet’s content in Travelport.
“This, combined with our industry-leading aggregated shopping functionality has led to a doubling of easyJet’s volume through Travelport in the UK last year.”
