Agent now able to issue Russian ticket
Travelport GDS has signed two deals which open the way for wider access to both ticket sales and airline content in both Russia and former CIS countries.
The first agreement is with TCH, Russia's settlement service. This will allow agents using Galileo - one of the GDSs owned by Travelport - to issue TCH e-tickets for the first time.
Previously, travel agents were required to use a local GDS for ticketing.
The second deal is with IT aviation specialist SITA which will provide agents across Russia and the CIS access to new airline content through Travelport's Reservation Sales Solutions (RSS).
RSS is available on the 3,000 terminals provided by S7 Airlines across the country.
The new service will provide access to the inventory of the S7 Group, a further 130 SITA hosted carriers as well as more than 400 carriers bookable through Galileo.
The two deals follow Travelport's decision last year to invest millions of dollars in Russia after identifying the region as one of potential growth.
Travelport also announced a new training programme for Galileo agents in Russia in partnership with JSC VIP Service, a leading travel management company in the country.
Niklas Andréen, Travelport's managing director for Eastern Europe, said: "We take the view that the way forward in Russia is not to try to impose the way things work in Western Europe but to work on the ground with our customers to really help them to grow their businesses.
"The Russian travel marketplace is truly unique and over the last 12 months, following feedback from our customers, we have been very focussed on developing regional partnerships with key Russian organisations such as TCH and JSC VIP Service to enable us to deliver highly valuable local support."
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