All three of the leading GDS companies have seen strong increases in sales and profits for the first three months of the year on the back of global growth in travel bookings.
Sabre, Amadeus and Travelport saw revenue and operating profits rise between January and March compared to the same period in 2013.
US-based Sabre Corp, which returned to the stock market last month with a listing on Nasdaq, saw revenue (excluding its Travelocity online travel agency) rise by 7.2% to $661 million for the quarter while operating profit was also up by 1.8% to $95 million year-on-year.
Sabre CEO Tom Klein said: “Global travel industry growth was very healthy in the first quarter with our airline and hotel customers experiencing solid demand.
“Against this backdrop, Sabre's portfolio of software and technology solutions, which are the broadest and deepest in the industry, continued to deliver value across the travel ecosystem."
Amadeus, which holds a 39.9% market share of fllight bookings by travel agents, also saw revenue rise by 9.1% to €867.6 million (€1.2 billion) for the first quarter of 2014 while operating profits went up by 7.2% to €277.9 million ($310 million).
CEO Luis Maroto said: “Amadeus has maintained its record of delivering strong organic growth in its core businesses: distribution and Airline IT Solutions.
“The joint contract with Southwest Airlines to implement the Amadeus’ Altea reservations solution as the carrier’s only reservation system is a truly landmark IT partnership for Amadeus.”
“These results clearly prove that Amadeus is fully equipped to continue to deliver on its strategy, backed by its financial strengths and technology expertise.”
Travelport also recorded a 4% rise in revenue to $572 million for the quarter with operating profit rising by 9% to $75 million year-on-year.
CEO Gordon Wilson said: “As we celebrate the one year anniversary of our merchandising platform, I am pleased we have further strengthened our air proposition with the signing of new ground-breaking agreements with Ryanair and Air Asia, an extended partnership with Easyjet, and over 30 airline agreements for our rich content and branding functionality.
“Through these unrivalled agreements, we are now uniquely positioned to sell the content of all the world’s top 10 airlines.This milestone builds on our leadership in global hotel content distribution and augments our strong financial performance.”