AMADEUS, the Madrid-based travel industry inventory distribution system, has taken a controlling stake in Opodo, an online service launched by nine of Europe”s major airlines back in 2001. Under the new arrangement the shareholder split will be Amadeus 55.36%; Air France, British Airways and Lufthansa 10.24% each; Alitalia, Iberia and KLM 4.08% each; Finnair 0.76%; Aer Lingus and Austrian Airlines 0.51% each. Essentially Amadeus is a travel agency system whilst Opodo markets its products to the general public. According to Opodo travel e-commerce activity reached E12.6bn in Europe last year, and around 6% of all European travel is now booked online. However the market is still in its infancy, compared with the US, where around 19% of all travel is now booked over the Internet, and online air bookings account for over 30% of total air bookings. Predictions are that the European online travel market will follow the US trend, growing dramatically over the next two years, to reach nearly E28bn by 2005.
http://www.amadeus.com
http://www.opodo.com