the evolution of gds ( global distribution system)

Once  upon  a  *me,  in  1950    

in 1950

TTS  

Photo  source:  h,p://cmedialab.org  

When  the  internet  was  s*ll  far  away…      

   Travel  agents  used  to  book  each  flight  by  hand.  

Photo  source:  h,p://www.everythingpanam.com  

   Imagine  the  workload!    

And  they  had    no  other  op*on.  

Photo  source:  h,p://www.allposters.com  

 Customers,  too,  had  no  other  op*on,  but  

the  travel  agencies.    

Photo  source:  h,p://www.computerhistory.org/  

 Then,   in   1953,   IBM  and  American  Airlines  c r e a t ed   a   s em i -­‐automated   system,  c a l l e d   Cu s t ome r  Reserva=ons  Systems.      Photo  source:  h,p://www.corbisimages.com  

Amazing  !        

     Photo  source:  h,p://www.thisismarilyn.com  

considering  there  was  no  

 Result?    

Photo  source:  h,p://75.aircanada.com   Photo  source:  h,p://www-­‐03.ibm.com  

 Result?    

 All  airlines  got  connected  to  this  system.    

 Every  day  airlines  would  pay  CRSs  to  be  listed  in  

their  database.    

Photo  source:  h,p://news.bbc.co.uk  

 Travel  agencies  

would  get  commissions  from  airlines,  depending  on  the  amount  of  flights  booked.  

 And  then  the  fares  became  biased  to  par*cular  airlines.    

 In  short,  everything  got  complicated.    

 Because  of  that,  in  1980,  the  Airlines  decided  to  create  their  own  systems.    

And  these  systems  were  the    Global  Distribu*on  Systems  (GDS).  

=automated  booking  systems  for  individual  airlines  

 What  did  this  mean?  

It  meant  that  now  the  GDSs  could  calculate  and  get  all  offers  for  each  airline.  

Photo  @  Jack  Mitchell    

The  distribu*on  channels  facilitated    a  great  deal  the  online  search  process.  

What  has  changed  since  then?    

PreYy  much.      

 Nowadays  there  are  three  major  GDSs:  

Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport (Apollo, Galileo and Worldspan) �

Booking  complex  trips  is  no  longer  an  issue.    

 With  GDSs  covering  everything,  from  airline  *ckets,    to  car  rentals,  to  hotel  rooms  and  more…    

 Mobility  on  the  GDS  is  now  also  available.    

Applica*ons  like  Travelport  Mobile  Agent  make  it  possible.    

Travelportmobileagent.,s.com  

 As  you  may  see,    GDS  remains  a  hero  in  this  whole  story.      

That  is,  GDS  remains  the  main  distribu*on  channel  to  connect  

airlines  and  travel  agents  around  the  world.