TRAVELPORT is creating more revenue opportunities for agents by coming up with solutions that aggregate ancillary and non-air content.
The Travelport Universal API (application programming interface), which aggregates travel content and related services from multiple sources through a single interface, will enable agents to access airline ancillary services through the GDS.
Kurt Ekert, Travelport chief commercial officer, said: “Airlines have been successful in moving sales to online sites. Large carriers have great success in selling ancillary services but they (have not fully tapped) the travel agent channel, which still provides 50 per cent or more of sales. There is a gigantic revenue opportunity for them to partner with the GDS and agents. (This solution) enables us to connect to airlines’ merchandising system and drive this to the point-of-sale.”
Ekert said the Travelport Universal API would be rolled out to various markets throughout the year.
The company will also unveil by the second quarter a new non-air selling platform that integrates hotel content and various rate types.
“We expect non-air growth to be explosive and are leveraging new technology, such as our recent acquisition of Sprice, to form the shopping engine for the new platform,” said Ekert.
By Ollie Quiniquini
