Irish national carrier Aer Lingus has signed deals with two GDSs, Galileo and Sabre just 15 months after announcing its withdrawal from the European side of their operations.
The carrier which has converted itself into a low cost operator in the past two years had indicated that it wanted its website to be its principal means of sales and distribution.
The two year deal with Sabre will let the GDS make more of the airline's fares available directly to its “Sabre Connected” agents.
The agreement comes into effect this month and will give the agents full access to aerlingus.com.
Mr Stuart Nassos, Sabre's vice president strategic marketing and sales EMEA, said he was “happy to reinstate Aer Lingus's fares for the benefit of our travel agency and corporate customers.”
No details of the Galileo deal were as yet available.
The move mark what seems to be an abrupt about turn by Aer Lingus whose policy to go “low cost” and withdraw from the European operations of GDSs was met with criticism from Irish business travel agents. Its decision to scrap business class on European short haul flights has also endangered its position in the Oneworld alliance.
But the decision has paid off in economic terms with the airline set to announce healthy profit for this year's trading.