Following the lead of founding member United Airlines
(BTN, Feb. 7), the 16-member Star Alliance actively is pursuing alternatives to the four primary global distribution systems and plans to choose partners before the end of this year.
"With an economic environment in which airlines are continually forced to cut costs, special attention needs to be paid to those items which have shown a continual increase," said Star CEO Jaan Albrecht, in a statement issued today. "GDS fees definitely fall into this category."
Star said its members on aggregate spend roughly $2 billion on annual GDS fees. It cited the familiar claims of new systems-better technology and lower costs-and said Air Canada, Lufthansa, SAS and Singapore Airlines had joined United in taking the lead on developing a single, alliance-wide distribution strategy.
Following recent demonstrations by some of the new distribution system providers, the alliance plans to issue a formal request for information this month and select distribution partners by year-end. United claims already to be processing tickets through ITA Software's new system. The airline expects similar progress through G2 SwitchWorks' platform soon
(BTN, May 16).
In other Star news, the alliance today said it unanimously accepted Swiss International Air Lines' application for membership. The decision was expected, following Lufthansa's March announcement that it plans to purchase the Swiss carrier as part of a cross-border merger
(BTN, April 18).