Travelport has won the latest skirmish in its battle with American Airlines after a US court backed its injunction against the carrier.
The Illinois Appellate Court supported the IT company’s case that its partially owned subsidiary Orbitz could carry on selling AA tickets.
AA had argued that the corporate online booking agency should not be allowed to sell its tickets.
The court also said that Travelport’s contract with AA allowed all its agents to use the airline’s content.
Besides its 48% stake in Orbitz, Travelport also owns to leading GDSs, Galileo and Worldspan which handle airline tickets.
In a statement, Travelport, based in Atlanta, Georgia, claimed the ruling “further supports one of Travelport's damages claims against AA given AA's improper termination of Orbitz's ticketing authority.”
It quoted the court as saying: "Travelport has standing to complain that American breached the [parties' contract], and its implicit covenant of good faith by barring Travelport from earning income from booking flights through... Orbitz."
Eric Bock, Travelport’s chief legal officer, said: "We are very pleased with the Appellate Court's recognition of our contractual rights."
"Those rights are critical to protecting our agencies' ability to have and fully use AA's content."
The company said it would continue to pursue its case against the airline but would also work with it “to ensure that consumers, corporations and travel agents continue to benefit from the most transparent travel booking processes possible.”