San Diego - Key airline members of the Star Alliance, including Lufthansa and United Airlines, have "firm commitments" to employ Amadeus for a common IT platform, according to Christian Klick, vice president of corporate office at Star Alliance. A United spokesperson said Amadeus "has been selected as a preferred vendor but no agreement has been signed" regarding the carrier's participation in a universal Star system for reservations, inventory, departure control and other functions. United currently uses Cendant Corp.'s Galileo for much of its IT needs.
Star has been exploring a common IT platform for some time as part of an overall approach to create synergies throughout the alliance, and Amadeus has been considered the likely provider. Klick said there would be an announcement "in the near future."
The alliance already has established StarNet, a central database linked to all member carriers. Star members also cooperate on fuel purchases, electronic ticket interlining, airport facilities and self-checkin kiosks.
Addressing the media here yesterday during the National Business Travel Association, Klick said self-checkin kiosk trials are underway in London, Munich and Tokyo, with a total of 40 airport rollouts planned by year-end.
Klick also said that 420,000 meeting delegates worldwide in 2005 had used Star's Convention Plus program, nearly double from 2004. He claimed that Star's Corporate Plus program has $1.5 billion out of the $4 billion in business represented by the world's top 130 global companies. Star member carriers now are targeting another 4,000 companies for the program.
Klick added that responses for a request for proposals sent to distribution companies this summer were due by the end of next month. Star plans to select one or more distribution partners by year-end
(BTNonline, June 2).