Technology and distribution
firm Travelport on Thursday reported that global distribution segments grew 5
percent worldwide in the second quarter, which ended on June 30, compared with
the same period in 2009, noting particular strength in the corporate travel
market and the Asia/Pacific region.
"We continue to see a
strong corporate travel market," Travelport president and CEO Jeff Clarke
said during the company's earnings call. "Last quarter that was up about
11 percent. In July, it's still up about 10 percent, so this corporate recovery
is very important—it's obviously important to the profitability of the airlines,
and it’s very important to the relevance of the GDS."
Asia/Pacific continues to be
the strongest region, with GDS segments growing 18 percent during the quarter.
The Americas saw only 3 percent segment growth, while Europe reported 4 percent
growth. The Middle East and Africa, meanwhile, saw GDS segment declines of 1
percent, narrowing the year-over-year declines Travelport has seen in the region
since it realigned its strategy in 2008 to pursue more direct relationships
with travel agencies there.
Though worldwide GDS
segments grew 5 percent from 2009's second quarter, overall GDS revenue only
grew 1 percent, or $5 million, and the company reported a 2 percent decline in
net revenue per GDS segment.
"That really is the
result of some of the fluctuations that we have across different periods,"
Clarke said. "There are certain contracts that have shortfall fees and
other items that can increase net revenue per segment for one particular period
over another, and so forth." Travelport expects net revenue per segment "to
be flat or modestly up this year," Clarke added.
Meanwhile, Travelport said
it launched its new Universal Desktop agency workstation with beta customer
Flight Centre. The company said it would continue to roll out the system
through the second half of 2010.