Worldspan will not follow rival GDS and buy itself on, or offline agencies, Graham Nichols, its vp and general manager EMEA, said.
He said that such companies competed with the parent company and he regarded such a situation as a conflict of interest.
He said this was one of the way in which the Atlanta-based GDS was following a different strategy to its three main rivals, Amadeus, Sabre and Galileo.
He also said Worldspan was not at the moment aiming to set up its own consultancy business, again as other GDSs have done.
"We have a different strategy and that will become more obvious to people in the industry. People will have to choose which of these strategies they will support. Some will choose us and others will not. The market will become more polarised," he said.
"We are happy to be different – that is the route we want to go down."
* For full interview see BTE Analysis
Flint teams up with US partner
IF Associates, run by Ian Flint, one of the UK's leading consultants on business travel, has teamed up with an American consultancy Caldwell Associates.
The new alliance, which comes into being on Monday (July 16), will offer "independent consulting for companies, firms and governments in the buyer sector of the commercial travel industry."
IF, based in Surrey, south east England and Caldwell, run by John Caldwell and based in Washington say the co-operation will lead to "improved benchmarking and in depth data on best practices" for clients.
They also plan to seek new clients in the APAC region.
Summer teasers... from whom?
Travel buyers and executives at travel management companies are receiving e-mails of "summer teasers" advertising a new product called Magellan.
This is billed as the first "complete" solution for travel and expense management and offering links not only to airline and hotels but also low cost carriers, car rental companies and train operators.
The company behind the e-mails is KDS, the French IT software and services provider, which is aiming to launch the new product, after several more summer teasers, in Paris in October.
* see BTE's recruitment site www.businesstraveljobs.com