Lufthansa has signed an agreement with Travelport GDS to make its new fares scheme available without a fee.Agents in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein using Galileo or Worldspan, both owned by Travelport, will now be able to make bookings for the airlines' Preferred Fares scheme without paying a surcharge. Lufthansa and its subsidiary SWISS said they had signed a long term, full content deal with Travelport which will run until 2011 which will give Galileo and Worldspan agents access to all its fares.The deal follows a similar agreement signed last month with another GDS, Sabre last month.The remaining GDS, Amadeus which has 80% of the business in Germany, told BTE it was working with Lufthansa to reach an agreement.In a statement issued with the airline, it said: "The joint aim of Amadeus and Lufthansa is to reach a long-term agreement leading to competitive conditions for Amadeus travel agents which extends well into 2009 and beyond, and both companies are working to achieve that objective before 1st of July."Under the Lufthansa/SWISS scheme announced in January, fares will go up by 15 one way and 30 for a round trip on tickets bought in Germany and Austria from July 1.Prices for tickets bought in Switzerland and Liechtenstein will go up from October 1.But the carriers said they would continue to make available the current lower fares after those dates.These will be called "referred fares" but will be subject to the surcharge if booked through a GDS. Lufthansa will charge agencies 4.90 plus VAT per coupon and SWISS will charge CHF8 (5) per booking. It is this fee from which Sabre, Galileo and Worldspan agents will now be exempt.Thierry Antinori, Lufthansa's executive vp marketing and sales, said: "The commercial terms of this new agreement allow us to offer participating travel agencies all of our fares without applying additional Preferred Fare fees until the end of 2011. "This will give all travel agencies using Galileo or Worldspan long term peace of mind." Bryan Conway, Travelport GDS managing director for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Brazil said: "We are delighted to have signed such ground-breaking agreements with Lufthansa and SWISS and to be able to guarantee surcharge-free booking for all of our travel agency customers for over three years."A spokesman for the DRV, the German agents' association said: "The Travelport deal is a good development. It is the right decision for Lufthansa and Travelport."But we hope that the most important GDS in Germany, Amadeus is following this so that most of the German travel agents can use the GDS for a zero fee."