British Airways (BA) has finally unveiled details of its full-content agreement with Galileo, which will see the UK flag-carrier”s fares and inventory made available to all Galileo-connected travel agents, who sign up to the opt-in programme.
The deal comes after a long series of talks between BA and Galileo ” the UK”s largest global distribution system (GDS) ” as well as Sabre, Travel Network, Worldspan and Amadeus ” although the latter three are still on-going.
No firm details have yet been released, but speculation has been voiced that instead of a 50p rate per flight sector, the full economy and above will stay the same, while discounted economy services could increase to ”1 per sector.
”We have been working with the GDSs for some time as our previous contracts expired at the end of February,” said BA head of marketing and distribution, Tiffany Hall. ”We are very pleased to have reached an agreement with Galileo, which will reduce the airline”s distribution costs and ensures our lowest fares can continue to be distributed to all Galileo travel agents.”
Galileo”s opt-in travel policy was set up in 2004 and the new version allows travel agents in the UK and Ireland the chance to access all BA fare content that is made publicly available through the airline”s sales channels, including BA.com. Further details of the programme are due to be revealed at an unspecified date.
”This agreement illustrates our ability to work with airlines to reach a situation that is beneficial for both parties and offers value to travel agents,” said Galileo vice president supplier services, EMEA, Matthew Hall.