Travelport announced Wednesday that it has formed a
strategic partnership with Sirena-Travel, the largest of Russia's three
domestic global distribution systems, allowing Sirena-Travel agency customers
to sell international flights on the same terminal for the first time.
Sirena-Travel has 16,000 terminals in 7,000 locations
belonging to 400 Russian travel agencies. It estimates that 40 percent of its
agency customers have had no means until now to book international flights,
while the rest book them through separate terminals operated by other GDSs.
The new partnership, officially labeled Sirena-Travel
International powered by Travelport, will allow Russian agents to perform
familiar operations such as interlining, e-ticketing, reporting and payment.
Sirena-Travel has been trading since 2001 and claims to handle 50 percent of
all airline bookings in Russia. According to Travelport, GDS reservations in
Russia are growing 20 percent annually.