Abacus (GDS)
Abacus is a global distribution system (GDS) only used by travel agencies in Asia. It is operated by Abacus International Pte, Ltd., which is headquartered in Singapore and which is owned by Sabre and twelve asian airlines; All Nippon Airways, Cathay Pacific, China Airlines, EVA Airways, Garuda Indonesia, Dragonair, Philippine Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Royal Brunei Airlines, SilkAir and Singapore Airlines[1].
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[edit] History
Abacus was founded in 1988 by the main airlines in Asia. It entered into an agreement with Worldspan in order to enhance its offering to travel agencies with the capability of booking other airlines in addition to the founder airlines. The relationship ended in a London tribunal in 1998 after Worldspan accused Abacus of fraudulant activity[2]. In February 1998 Abacus migrated from Worldspan to Sabre[3]. During the late 1990s and the first decade of the 21st Century Abacus was the main GDS system used by travel agencies in Asia but in 2009 Abacus lost its market leadership in the region[4].
In 1990 Abacus and All Nippon Airways founded a Japanese CRS called Infini. Abacus formed subsidiaries (called National Marketing Companies) in partnership with its shareholding airlines in most countries in Asia. During several years it was also marketed in Australia, however in 2004 the company withdrew from the market and merged its subsidiary with Sabre Pacific.
[edit] Airlines using Abacus
Traditionally the shareholder airlines support Abacus as their primary GDS by providing benefits to travel agancies booking on Abacus. The shareholder relationship between the airlines, the Abacus holding company and the Abacus National marketing companies enabled airlines to realise considerable profits from the relationship[5].
[edit] Relationship with Sabre
Abacus and Sabre Holdings entered into a technology and shareholding relationship in the late 1990s whereby Abacus is hosted on the Sabre CRS system. This in effect means that the Sabre system is marketed in Asia as Abacus. Sabre owns a 35%[6] share of Abacus and Abacus markets Sabre products to agencies and airlines in Asia. Abacus does not own any CRS technology and it's shareholder airlines traditionally use their own legacy passenger service systems. In 2007 and 2008 the two main Abacus shareholders, Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific announced separate decisions to adopt the passenger service system of Abacus and Sabre rival Amadeus IT Group[7][8] leading to speculation that they might sell their shares in Abacus. In 2011 two other Abacus shareholders, Asiana[9] and All Nippon Airways also announced decisions to adopt the Amadeus passenger service system rather than the Sabre system.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.pata.org/Members/91
- ^ http://www.breakingtravelnews.com/news/article/btn716/
- ^ http://www.informationweek.com/673/73iuabc.htm
- ^ http://www.traveltrends.biz/amadeus-increases-asia-pacific-market-share/
- ^ http://malaysiaairlines.listedcompany.com/misc/BursaReport/Bursa_Announcement_2Q2011.pdf
- ^ http://www.abacus.com.bd/
- ^ http://www.asiatraveltips.com/news08/106-SingaporeAirlines.shtml
- ^ http://airlineworld.wordpress.com/2007/08/14/cathay-pacific-signs-for-amadeus-altea-who-will-win/
- ^ http://www.asiatraveltips.com/news11/305-ANA.shtml
