Constantine Hallax

🌎 Amadeus 2025: Latin America Confirms Its Rise on the Global Tourism Stage The latest Amadeus report, developed in partnership with UN Tourism, highlights a clear trend: Latin America is attracting, growing, and standing out. With steady recovery, expanding air routes, and new source markets, the region is redefining its role in global tourism. 📈 Which countries are leading the way? What trends are shaping Latin America’s growth? Discover the key insights in our latest article 👇 https://lnkd.in/ei5gcC6W #Amadeus #UNTourism #LatinAmerica #TravelTrends2025 #TourismGrowth #AirConnectivity #TravelInsights #VisitLatinAmerica #TourismIndustry #GlobalTourism

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We’re excited to announce that Liat Air, the flag carrier of Antigua & Barbuda, has signed a new distribution agreement with Amadeus. Through this partnership, Liat Air’s content will now be accessible across Amadeus’ extensive global network of travel sellers. This means: • Travel sellers gain access to a wider range of flight options in the Caribbean • Liat Air strengthens its retail strategy by reaching new markets and customers worldwide Together, we’re expanding opportunities and creating seamless travel experiences. 🌍✈️ #Partnership #AirlineDistribution #TravelSellers #Amadeus

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This summer, Amadeus, a global travel technology company that powers many airline and airport systems, and Lufthansa, Germany’s flag carrier and one of Europe’s largest airlines, successfully tested the EU Digital Identity Wallet in real travel scenarios.   The test showed how credential-based travel could soon replace manual document checks.   During these tests, travelers could: > Check-in online by sharing verified ID credentials from their wallet with one click, instead of entering passport data manually > Move through the airport by simply tapping their phone at check-in desks, bag drop machines, and boarding gates, rather than repeatedly showing physical documents The results point to a future where travel becomes smoother and more secure, thanks to verifiable credentials and privacy-preserving identity verification. Amadeus also contributed to the EUDI Wallet Consortium’s Passenger Flow Facilitation Report (I’ll link it in the comments - thanks to Annet Steenbergen for pointing it out to us), which outlines the architecture, use cases, and lessons learned from these pilot implementations. The report confirms the feasibility of wallet-based identity sharing for travel and highlights how digital credentials can reduce friction, strengthen privacy, and streamline border processes across the EU. Later this year, the next phase of trials will expand to airport security and border control. These will include biometric enrollment, requiring minimal or no fresh selfies or document scans, and testing the ability for travelers to tap their phones at eGates instead of scanning physical passports.

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Before chasing new tech or campaigns, look at your GDS. We still see it all the time—great hotels losing share in GDS because of basic misses: outdated content, broken rate mapping, or incomplete consortia profiles. The fix? Start small. A simple GDS audit and content refresh often delivers immediate results before you even touch pricing strategy. Our latest blog post outlines exactly where to look and how to measure the impact. Worth the 3-minute read: How to Build a Strong GDS Strategy 🔗 Read the full post here: https://lnkd.in/eVAt9eRf

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After the accumulation of a 9.7% stake in Sabre Corporation by Constellation Software (for its Vela Software unit, which has recently acquired other travel tech firms), Sabre adopted a limited-duration poison pill. Triggered at 15% ownership, the plan gives the board time to evaluate strategic options and ensure any change of control occurs on fair terms to shareholders. Constellation’s motivations for control or influence center on applying its decentralized operations, strong free-cash-flow generation across 1,000+ portfolio companies, and long-term cash-compounding philosophy, though its specific plans for Sabre remain unclear. Helpful analysis from Wolstonbury here: https://lnkd.in/gihdsAZi 𝙲̲𝚘̲𝚛̲𝚢̲'𝚜̲ 𝚃̲𝚊̲𝚔̲𝚎̲ This is what happens when your company ends up in the dollar bin. Sharks circle; uncertainty reigns. Management gets distracted. What might an acquirer do if it cares only about maximizing cash flow? The answer may be different depending upon the business segment. 1. The GDS business model is entering a terminal state. As AI eats the top of the funnel, travel agency air volume will go to zero at varying paces according to the type of agency and region of the world. Businesses with shrinking TAMs don't spend tens/hundreds of millions per year on NDC transitions that produce less than 10% of GDS volume. They retrench into EDIFACT and do their best to keep booking fees high and incentives low while volume exists. 2. There is a future in being an "EDIFACT API Provider." Some airlines in the long tail are not actively pursuing NDC. Their EDIFACT connections are therefore their only connection to the outside world. Sabre and others could provide an API with EDIFACT-powered content for these airlines which offers unique content the big AI platforms will need. These airlines will need to license a low-cost way to have their content featured in AI platforms. 3. The air IT business may have a couple different parts. Not sure the PSS American Airlines uses is technically the same platform as SabreSonic / Mosaic. It wasn't for years; I assume it is still not. If it isn't, there is one interested party in the universe that may be interested in acquiring and running that code until such time as they migrate elsewhere. 4. For the other half-ish of the air IT business, Sabre occupies an important corner of a market otherwise dominated by Amadeus. The fastest way for a new entrant to penetrate that market would be to purchase the SabreSonic / Radixx / Mosaic platforms. This is something that should be of interest to Thoma Bravo, FLYR, Accelya, and possibly others. Sabre clearly won't let anyone acquire control at the current stock price, but the limited duration of the poison pill plan suggests they are not entirely against being acquired for the right price. Whatever happens, attennae ought to go up now at American, Sabre-hosted airlines, and any agencies single-homed on Sabre.

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In an increasingly polarized corporate travel market, BCD Travel is staking out a clear position around choice and flexibility. While some new entrants offer a closed shop of proprietary technology and other competitors sign strategic alliances that steer joint customers in one direction, BCD says it is putting its faith in a multi-partner, open ecosystem—though that can come with challenges. "While we've had this open philosophy, this culture for a long time, I think we've been a little too quiet about it," BCD chief commercial officer Mike Janssen said in an interview with The Beat. [...] Many of BCD's competitors are moving in one of two directions, he claimed. On one hand, there "are new entrants who believe that their solution is the only solution," and on the other there are decisions taken by legacy players that "seem very intent on putting people into a closed system, where they can keep control better, and to be very frank, where it's easier for them to deliver on." Janssen said he appreciates the logic of those strategies—including efficiencies that can benefit the bottom line—but believes an open environment is more adaptable to the industry's pace of change. A 95 percent-plus customer retention rate on average over 10 years validates the TMC's philosophy, he claimed. #openbydesign #marketplace #partnerships https://lnkd.in/eW8n6cVw

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#TravelAgainDaily: Are "Ultra Low Cost Carriers" really done? Frontier says the model “is alive and well” despite record losses. Frontier Airlines CEO Barry Biffle says the ultra-low-cost model remains “alive and well,” even with yield pressure from a seat glut and Spirit’s recent turmoil. Frontier is pushing into the top 20 metros and expects overall supply to tighten over the next 1-2 years. We’ll watch fares, ancillaries, and network adds as well as the viability of Frontier's financial turnaround plan despite losing 37 cents per share in 2Q25. https://lnkd.in/eVfbGdmi #TravelAgainDaily #Airlines #Strategy #Pricing #ULCC Mike McCormick Ed Silver

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