THE Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) today gave international airlines the go-ahead to use Amadeus for ticket distribution in the country under the new CRS regulations.
Among the first international airlines that have received permission are Air France, KLM and Lufthansa, whose tickets will be bookable via Amadeus through a pre-selected group of travel agencies in Beijing, said an Amadeus media release.
This group of travel agencies will eventually be expanded to include those in locations such as Shanghai and Guangzhou.
Bart Tompkins, managing director of Amadeus China, said: “Implementing a new market-wide policy is not without its challenges and we appreciate the CAAC’s efforts to progress the airline applications. In addition to the initial list of approved airlines and travel consultants, we have several more that have committed to working with us in the market.”
Amadeus is curently applying for IATA’s Billing and Settlement Plan certification in China, which will give international airlines and travel consultants the ability to use Amadeus to settle ticket payments.
Update: CAAC has also granted Abacus’ travel consultant applicants licence to use the Abacus GDS system for international airline ticketing. Said an Abacus press release: “Abacus users will receive training on the new technology, learning how to present the brand attributes of each additional airline and share the multi-platform apps that their customers will also be able to adopt to make reservations for themselves.”
