<B>Worldspan Tops Galileo</B>
By Jay Campbell
<I>Colorado Springs, Colo. - </I>Worldspan last week said it had overtaken Galileo International in U.S. market share, and Galileo did not disagree.
According to airline segment data derived from the Market Information Data Tapes the global distribution systems sell to the airlines, Worldspan "processed nearly 600,000 more net airline bookings than its nearest competitor" for the year ending March 31, 2001.
A spokeswoman with that competitor, Galileo, said, "Our data does not conflict with theirs."
Worldspan president and CEO Paul Blackney last week told Business Travel News that during the 12-month period ending in March, Worldspan's U.S. market share was 23.6 percent, versus 23.5 percent for Galileo.
Blackney was unable to offer the same numbers from five or 10 years ago, saying only that the difference involved whole percentage points. For the calendar year 2000, Blackney said that Galileo's share was 24.1 percent, versus 23.4 percent for Worldspan.
Galileo's dip in market share has been well publicized and was caused, in large part, by two factors: its inferior position on the Internet, where booking growth is the highest, and the severing in 1998 of its sales functions from those of part-owner United Airlines and former part-owner US Airways (BTN, Feb. 22, 1999).
"Our U.S. sales force is more aggressive and is bearing fruit," said Galileo spokeswoman Rebecca Gray. "We have signed contracts for 6 million new annualized segments that will be realized this year, so there is definitely forward progress in the U.S. market."
Gray added that the company "continues to execute a wide variety of efforts to strengthen our Internet footprint," and cited Galileo's 22 percent operating margin as the highest in the industry. "We pursue segments with an eye to profitability," Gray said.
Galileo remains the second largest GDS worldwide.
"This is a crucial milestone in Worldspan's quest for the top," said Blackney. "As we continue to expand our customer base, building especially on our dominant position in e-commerce and our strength among cyber-agencies, we will extend our lead over the competition and set our sights even more squarely on number one."
According to number one, Sabre, its market share in the U.S. grew by a point and a half in the March quarter, and "if I were our competitors, I'd have my sights set on number one as well," said senior vice president of North American travel agency solutions Ellen Keszler. "We welcome the competition."
Blackney said all the GDSs buy the transaction tapes from each other to help determine market share.