Through partnerships with Farelogix and Lufthansa Systems, Star Alliance today announced that they plan this year to create and launch in Europe "alternative distribution channels," with the goal of cutting global distribution system costs.
While the alliance is planning to launch its new Alternative Content Access Platform in Europe this year, it said it would expand the platform "to a global presence, including markets in Asia-Pacific," Star Alliance said in a statement. Officials today said rollouts in other regions, including North America, remain to be determined.
Once it is available to travel management companies and corporate travel buyers, officials said the platform could interface with current systems or operate as a standalone.
SkyTeam last month also said it also is meeting with technology providers to develop a portal to "achieve better efficiencies through both direct and indirect distribution channels for its nine member airlines."
"SkyTeam member airlines, with a combined distribution spend of $1.2 billion per year, estimate that up to 15 percent of external distribution expense is generated from unproductive booking activity," the alliance said in a statement. Star Alliance today noted that its GDS bill among the 16 member carriers stands at about $2 billion.
Meanwhile, in other alliance news, Swiss International Air Lines officially will join Star Alliance on April 1, bringing its number of carriers to 17. In the past year, Swiss has been working closely with Star Alliance members, including code share agreements with United Airlines as well as Lufthansa, which last year merged with Swiss and paved the way for its membership
(BTN, April 18, 2005).