The annual reports of the global distribution systems always make for interesting reading, if you can wade through all of the figures to find the real nuggets.
One of the key figures the GDSs publish is market share.
In its recently released annual report for 2014, Amadeus has revealed that its market share of air bookings is now 40.7%, up from 40% in 2013. By comparison, Sabre, in its annual report says it had a booking share of 35.5% in 2014, down from 35.7% the previous year. Travelport does not report its market share directly in its annual report but says it handled 356 million segments during the year, an increase of 2%. A simple calculation form the other two GDSs shows that its share would be 25% at most.
The increase in Amadeus' share has been driven largely by growth in Asia Pacific and North America, as shown below. Its key market is still Western Europe.
The company said that revenue arising from distribution rose by 5.6% to €2,447.7 million.
The growth was largely driven by higher booking volumes and by an increase in the proportion of high-yield bookings.
The number of rail bookings, which have a low booking fee, also fell.
Higher revenues were offset by increased costs however. The company invested more heavily in R&D, particularly around search and booking technology, ancillary services and mobile. Commercial support for new solutions for corporations and travel management companies also increased. It says the average unit incentive fee paid to travel agencies was also higher, driven by a combination of the competitive environment and the mix of travel agencies originating its bookings. Travelport also reports increased incentives for travel agencies, up 5% year-on-year.
(Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport's figures generally refer to the non-China market so Travelsky numbers have not been reported)