Amadeus, Sabre Seek EC Approval For Payment Initiative

Global distribution system competitors Amadeus and Sabre Holdings today said they have filed with the European Commission to form a joint venture to provide an automated, multi-GDS payment, processing, clearing and reconciliation platform for non-air segments.

If approved, Sabre said the companies would make the platform available for both leisure and corporate travel agency channels. "The intent of the joint venture is to establish an industry-standard solution to improve and better meet the requirements of the travel industry with payment efficiencies, increased automation, and improved interoperability" for non-air segments including hotel, rental car and rail, the two companies said in a statement.

"There are industry standards in the air market that bank settlement plans and ARC address," a Sabre spokesperson said today. "There are no industry standards for non-air transactions."

Amadeus North America director of marketing Owen Wild said the companies anticipate the launch of the platform to be "pretty close to concurrent" with EC approval, expected some time this year in the third quarter, upon which the companies said they will provide more detail about the initiative.