GDS deregulation is likely to make it more difficult for corporates to find the best information, delegates at the UK and Ireland Institute of Travel Management (ITM) annual conference were told.
Dr Keith Mason, of the Department of Air Transport, Cranfield University, said deregulation, expected in Europe in 2006, was likely to increase the level of complexity for corporates as it would be a problem finding the right information in a single source.
But Dr Mason, speaking in the main Wednesday session on a “European Industry Overview”, said there could also be a greater transparency in costs if airlines negotiated better fees with the GDSs and passed these onto the corporates.
Under deregulation, he said the “Holy Grail” of the corporates would be complete access to all inventories but that might mean additional costs for the TMC which would be passed to clients.
“Corporates will want to ensure the accuracy of the MI and be assured of data management as well as wanting to know exactly where their travellers are.
“They will also want a cost reduction – that is imperative. So there will have to be a better use of technology and of self booking,” Dr Mason said.
Airlines see deregulation as a potential way to cut costs through re-negotiations with the GDSs and it is likely that airlines would also work more closely with their preferred GDS, he said.
But major carriers may also join the larger TMCs and offer a “global strategy” to corporates.
For TMCs the change could bring the need for improved technology and, with GDS incentives stopped, a stronger relationship with their corporate clients.
GDS will need to adopt a new business model, said Dr Mason, which would include a variable pricing mechanism.
“There is also a possibility that the TMCs will move into the GDS current area and that GDSs will move increasingly towards the TMC space,” he said.