American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT), has agreed to extend its private channel agreement with British Airways (BA). The extension applies to bookings made in the Amex GBT marketplace on any global distribution system (GDS.
Amex GBT’s Chief Revenue Officer Rajiv Ahluwalia said private channel agreements remained important to customers who want access to the most comprehensive and competitive airfares in the Amex GBT marketplace. The agreement means customers will retain surcharge-free access to BA content while NDC and modern retailing capabilities evolve.
On modern retail development, Ahluwalia said: “Owning our own software solutions, Egencia and Neo, and with large teams of dedicated engineers, means we have full control of the end-to-customer experience and the agility to respond quickly and at scale. That’s why in the last year we’ve invested double-digit millions of dollars in modern retailing and NDC. We and our airlines partners must continue to collaborate, invest and show yet more progress to our customers.”
Ahluwalia said that more than 20 carriers are already part of the company’s NDC program, which is currently available to more than 10,000 customers. By the end of April this year, travelers using Amex GBT’s proprietary software solutions Neo and Egencia had already made hundreds of thousands of NDC bookings.
“Whether it’s Neo, Egencia or through one of our technology partners, our objective is always to deliver the best software and services, proven at scale, globally, with access to our marketplace presenting the most comprehensive and competitive content in the industry,” added Ahluwalia.
