The European Commission confirms Amadeus as the first European travel company in R&D investment

Madrid, 23 January, 2006: Amadeus, a global leader in technology and distribution solutions for the travel industry, is ranked for the second year as the first European travel and tourism company in terms of R&D investment. This is one of the key findings of the European Commission's Top 700 list of European companies investing in Research and Development in 2004.

With regard to sector listings, Amadeus appears under Leisure & Hotels, ranking first in this category. In the global ranking, Amadeus is the second Spanish company with the highest R&D spend after Telefónica. Amadeus' R&D investment in 2004 was €153 million, up from €145 million or 5.5% on the preceding year.

Amadeus is ranked 89th in the global European list, gaining seven positions compared to last year's report.

Jean-Paul Hamon, Executive Vice President Development of Amadeus, explains, “Investments in new products, services and technology are essential in order to maintain our competitive advantage in distribution, e-commerce and our IT business. Being the preferred technology partner for our customers’, R&D is a key factor that allows us to offer innovative solutions which help transform the travel industry.”

Amadeus has six Development centres around the world. Its main site is located in Sophia-Antipolis (France), with the remaining five in London, Sydney, Frankfurt, Antwerp and Miami. The Operation & Data centre is located in Erding (Germany,) and stands as one of the largest civilian data centres in Europe.

Amadeus has almost tripled its R&D investment over the last five years, with expenditure being allocated to four different areas:

• Development of the Amadeus Altéa Customer Management Solution (CMS), a community-based IT platform that consists of three solutions covering reservation, inventory management and departure control. The Altéa portfolio has marked a technology and functional breakthrough in the airline industry.
• Development of solutions for online travel distribution. e-Travel, the e-commerce division of Amadeus, provides solutions to airlines, corporations, travel agencies and other online travel businesses. In this field, the new functionalities of Amadeus Flex Pricer, a comprehensive faring solution, are worthy of mention.
• Development of solutions for non-air services, particularly hotels and rental cars. The increasing sophistication of Amadeus' products is persuading a growing number of providers in this area to switch their distribution to the company’s System, as they find it more efficient and cost-effective. The latest developments have been focused on streamlining and adding value to the connectivity of providers' inventories with the Amadeus System, as well as on automating hotel commission clearance for travel agents.
• Development of travel agency management products to streamline work processes, maximise productivity and minimise commercial costs for providers and travel agencies, including the Amadeus Selling Platform (Vista), a unique browser-based sales platform used at more than 180,000 points of sale around the world.

Notes to the editors:

The “2005 Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard” can be accessed at http://eu-iriscoreboard.jrc.es.

About Amadeus
Amadeus is the chosen technology partner for providers, sellers, and buyers of travel. The company provides distribution, IT and point-of-sale solutions to help its customers adapt, grow and succeed in the fast changing travel industry. Customer groups include travel providers (airlines, hotels, car rental companies, railway companies, ferry lines, cruise lines and insurance companies, tour operators), travel sellers (travel agencies) and travel buyers (corporations and travellers). Solutions are grouped in four solution categories – Distribution & Content, Sales & e-Commerce, Business Management and Services & Consultancy.

Solutions for travel providers
Amadeus distributes content to around 362,000 points of sale located in over 215 markets worldwide through a range of technology solutions. For airlines, Amadeus Altéa Customer Management Solution (CMS) is the first new generation IT platform seen by the airline industry for 30 years, allowing airlines to unlock the full value of each traveller and turn their passengers into customers. More than 150 airlines use Amadeus Altéa Reservation (Sell) as their sales and reservation system – among these are world class airlines including British Airways, Qantas, Finnair, United Airlines and South African Airways who have also contracted Amadeus Altéa Inventory (Plan) and Amadeus Altéa Departure Control (Fly) system.

Solutions for travel sellers
The Amadeus Selling Platform (Vista) allows over 75,000 travel agencies and 11,000 airline offices to make bookings on 95% of the world's scheduled airline seats. It provides access to over 56,700 hotel properties and 42 car rental companies serving over 30,000 locations.

Solutions for corporations
Amadeus is the global leader in online travel technology and corporate travel management solutions. It services travel agencies in 90 countries, and powers the websites of over 300 corporations and more than 70 airlines and hotels. Amadeus e-Travel Management is an online travel booking solution to help corporations manage their travel policy more efficiently. Customers include BASF, BMC Software, Cemex, Daimler Chrysler, Ericsson, Oracle, Siam Cement and Telecom Italia.

Amadeus has central sites in Madrid (corporate headquarters & marketing), Nice (development) and Erding (Operations – data processing centre) and regional offices in Miami, Buenos Aires and Bangkok. At market level, Amadeus maintains customer operations in 75 countries covering more than 215 markets.

The company - jointly owned by BC Partners, Cinven, Air France, Iberia and Lufthansa - has over 6,500 employees worldwide, representing 95 nationalities.

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