Travelport wins tender for sole distribution supplier to Air India

LANGLEY, U.K., Oct. 11, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Travelport (NYSE:TVPT), the leading travel commerce platform, announced today that it had won a competitive tender process undertaken by Air India for the sole provision of distribution of its domestic flight content in the airline's home market.

The contract awarded to Travelport came after a comprehensive bidding process. It will begin to come into effect from November 2018 and be fully implemented by the end of 2019. The agreement confirms Air India's continued deployment of Travelport Rich Content and Branding, now used by over 270 airlines. This displays airlines' graphical content, their fares families and a full range of ancillary products.  It means that Travelport will provide the same content as Air India's own direct-selling channels.

Air India is the country's flag air carrier with a leading position in international and domestic operations. Along with Air India Express, it has 43% share of the international traffic to and from India among Indian carriers and a 17% share, including global airlines, as of Q3 CY17. It is a member of the Star Alliance and is a pioneer of India's civil aviation sector, being the first scheduled airline in India, enjoying a rich heritage of over 85 years.

Travelport has seen a rapid expansion in India in recent years following the acquisition of business from the largest online travel agencies such as MakeMyTrip, Ibibo, Yatra, EaseMyTrip and ClearTrip as well as working with the major corporate travel agencies and new entrants to the travel sector such as PayTM.  In addition to industry-leading airline content, Travelport has also expanded its footprint and capabilities with leading hotel groups and aggregators in India such as Oberoi, Taj, Treebo and Trident.

Pradeep Singh Kharola, Chairman and Managing Director of Air India, said, "Air India is pleased to award this important contract to Travelport. In written submissions and in discussion with their team the company demonstrated a clear understanding of our needs and displayed impressive technological and financial capability. As we make the switch to Travelport, we hope to be able to deliver even better value for money and a superior distribution to our customers in India and abroad."

Gordon Wilson, Travelport's President and CEO, commented, "Travelport is delighted to have been selected by Air India to provide these services. It is another welcome endorsement of our technology and our services in India. It was a tough process. We faced stiff competition from our rivals and rigorous examination by the airline's team. We look forward to implementing the agreement and delivering a world-class service to the airline."

About Travelport (www.travelport.com)

Travelport (NYSE: TVPT) is the technology company which makes the experience of buying and managing travel continually better.  It operates a travel commerce platform providing distribution, technology, payment and other solutions for the global travel and tourism industry.  The company facilitates travel commerce by connecting the world's leading travel providers with online and offline travel buyers in a proprietary business-to-business (B2B) travel marketplace.  

Travelport has a leadership position in airline merchandising, hotel content and distribution, car rental, mobile commerce and B2B payment solutions.  The company also provides critical IT services to airlines, such as shopping, ticketing, departure control and other solutions.  With net revenue of over $2.4 billion in 2017, Travelport is headquartered in Langley, UK, has approximately 4,000 staff and is represented in 180 countries and territories.

In India, Travelport partners with InterGlobe Technology Quotient (ITQ), a part of the Interglobe Group, a leader in aviation, hospitality and travel related services, contributing to the growth of market through innovation and service leadership by building businesses and represent global brands that deliver quality and value.

ITQ is an official distributor of Travelport in six markets across Asia Pacific region including India, Sri Lanka. Headquartered in Gurgaon, the company provides cutting edge travel technology solutions with unmatched inventory options to its customers helping them increase their productivity and business efficiency. With an extended network over 400 cities having 19 dedicated offices and 14 REPs, InterGlobe Technology Quotient reaches out to over 36,000 agency terminals, with a nationalised service centre and 16 training centres having state-of-the-art infrastructure and facilities matching international standards.

Travelport Contacts:

Investors:

Majid Nazir, FCA, Head of Investor Relations
T +44 (0) 1753 288 857
M +44 (0) 7552 212 129
[email protected]

Media:

Julian Eccles, VP PR and Communications
T: +44 (0)7720 409374
[email protected]

Syaz Haniff, Senior Communications Manager, APAC
T +65 8128 0967
[email protected]

Cheryl Wu (??), Communications Manager, APAC
T +852 5966 3349
[email protected]

SOURCE Travelport Worldwide Limited