TMCs are likely to need more than one GDS after European de-regulation, Adam White, chairman of the UK's Guild of Business Travel Agents' technology working party, predicted.
Mr White said: “European Commission plans to deregulate the GDS industry seem likely to come into effect sometime after summer 2006.
“Although nobody yet knows the full, final detail of what the deregulation will entail, it seems inevitable that travel management companies will need to have access to more than one system.”
Currently he said only 34% of GBTA members used a secondary GDS.
Under present rules, all GDSs must display all airline inventories without bias, regardless of who owns the GDS.
If these rules are eased, as predicted, GDSs could give favourable displays to airlines which paid for this service.
The situation in Europe is further complicated by the fact that one GDS, Amadeus is partly owned by three airlines while Amadeus, Sabre and Galileo all either own an online agency or are owned by a company which in turn owns an online agency.
At the moment, 17 of the GBTA's 35 members (49%) use Galileo as their primary GDS, with Sabre second on 34%, Worldspan third with 11% and Amadeus fourth with 6%. But the GDS contracts of 31 of the members come up for renewal in the next three years.
“Travel management companies have a professional care of duty to their corporate clients and that means providing the best service at the best price,” Mr White said.
“It is quite possible, post-deregulation, that we will all have to be able to access two, three, or even all four major systems.”