Air fares will rise over the next five years as airlines merge and cut capacity, Stephane Durand said.
Amadeus' UK and Ireland managing director said the new super airlines will use their "muscle" to get better deals with suppliers and partners.
Mr Durand was predicting how air travel would look in five years' time at a press briefing by the travel IT company in London today (October 14).
Stephane Durand
The globalisation of industry would continue to drive demand and markets like Brazil, India, Russia and China would continue to grow.
But he also forecast that high speed rail travel will grow and train journeys of four to five hours would be used by business travellers.
"High speed trains will grab a big portion of the air market," he said.
But there would also be major changes in fares and distribution with online sales continuing to grow.
Travellers would demand higher levels of security, control, comfort and personalisation and the concept of one stop shopping would be over in five years, he said.
"TMCs will offer a true multi-channel experience yet keep control of the services they offer," he said.
More comfort would mean a growth in premium travel while personalisation would see a traveller's preferences flagged up as he or she made a booking.
Technology would play a leading role in this, said Mr Durand who cited the smartphone as the instrument travellers would use for searching the web and making reservations.
"There will be a significant change in how we buy and experience travel, particularly in business travel," he said.
"This is the biggest challenge of the industry and an opportunity for Amadeus. Now more than ever we need every system to be able to talk to each other."
This meant full integration of front, mid and back offices, systems that supported online, offline and mobile phones and systems which can use data to improve travellers' experiences.
He said Open System IT was the foundation backed by sustained investment which could respond to customer and market demands.
Travellers, corporates and TMCs needed "quite a lot of data" available in a single store and Mr Durand said "a lot is happening" to merge data.
"It is not just about the GDSs but about the vision of merged data and a single touchless process which can bring economies of scale," he said.
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