Battle looms with Travelport
Travelport GDS is to absorb "temporarily" a €4.50 surcharge levied on bookings by its Galileo and Worldspan agents for Air France KLM flights.
The charge is to be imposed in the two home markets of the French-Dutch carrier from June 1 in France and mid-July in the Netherlands.
No charge will be imposed on any bookings made through Amadeus, which is the dominant GDS in the French market.
The GDS signed a three year deal with Air France KLM last year.
Air France has a 23.2% stake in Amadeus which it founded with Lufthansa and Iberia, also still shareholders with an 11.6% stake each.
The fourth major GDS, Sabre is exempt from any surcharge, having signed a full content deal with the airline last September.
Travelport, whose two GDSs have separate contracts with Air France KLM, said it planned to go on talking with the airline.
Air France KLM has said that the Travelport GDSs charge more than other systems for display of content.
One report said the airline was threatening to withhold content from Galileo and Worldspan.
The row between Air France KLM reflects a similar row in Germany, Austria and Switzerland between Lufthansa/SWISS and Amadeus agents in the three countries.
The two carriers announced a preferred programme in January 2008 under which bookings made through GDS for certain fares were subject to a €4.90 surcharge.
Lufthansa and SWISS reached agreement with Travelport's GDSs and Sabre to exempt their agents from the fee but they have never signed a deal with Amadeus.
The GDS absorbed the fee for agents in Germany and Austria until the end of January. It is still absorbing the fee for agents in Switzerland.
www.travelport.com www.airfrance.com www.klm.com