A fair introduction to how GDS systems work in integration of thousands of airline and other travel domain reservation

1. GDS, The Reason behind Growth of
Airline Industry
Debajani Mohanty
Architect, NIIT Technologies

2. GDS
Global distribution systems (GDS) are
computerized, centralized services that provide
travel-related transactions. They cover everything
from airline tickets to car rentals to hotel rooms
and more.
Here is a link to a video that would explain how a
GDS system works -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJPkS7S-02g

3. Benefits
There are currently four major GDS systems:
•Amadeus
•Sabre
•Travelport (Umbrella company for Galileo, Apollo & Worldspan)
In addition, there are several smaller or regional GDSs, including SITA, Infini (Japan), Axess (Japan),
Tapas (Korea), Fantasia (South Pacific), and Abacus (Asia/Pacific) that serve interests or specific
regions or countries.
Integrating your airline portal with any of the major GDS system of the world would allow users
•To purchase tickets from multiple different providers or airlines across the globe
•Car Rentals
•Hotel Booking
•Packaged holidays
•Cruises and Ships
•Railways
•Local road transport
All the above could get added to the itinerary and come as a package to the end user. GDS enables
the user to compare and choose the best possible package from various sources that suits his need.

4. How GDS evolved
Few decades back computer reservation systems(CRS) were developed to give accurate information
about availability, price and booking of tourist products and services. Later they extended to book
hotels, tourism and other hospitality business.
In 1962 American Airlines introduces SABRE (Semi-Automated Business Research Environment) the
first commercial CRS developed by IBM to be used for
•Generating flight plans for the aircraft
•Tracking space parts
•Scheduling crews ..
Today Sabre Global Distribution System (GDS), owned by Sabre Holdings, is used by more than
350,000 travel agents around the world with more than 400 airlines, 100,000 hotels, 25 car rental
brands, 50 rail providers and 14 cruise lines. The Sabre GDS enables companies such as American
Airlines, American Express, BCD Travel, Carlson Wagonlit Travel, Hogg Robinson Group (HRG),
Expedia, Frontier, Holiday Autos, Zuji, LastMinute, JetBlue, GetThere and Travelocity to search,
price, book, and ticket travel services provided by airlines, hotels, car rental companies, rail providers
and tour operators.

5. Before and After GDS
Before GDS travel agents required individual connections to airlines. Each airline used
to be on different legacy systems. Searches and reservations used to be made separately.

6. A Typical Airline Portal

7. GDS works on XML
• The GDS systems expose their services
as XML adhering to the standard OTA
schema
• This involves XML to book, modify, cancel
reservations for airlines, hotels, ground
services, special services etc
• Services could be integrated seemlessly
and both agents as well as B2C users can
update transactions in seconds

8. OTA Schema
• The OpenTravel Alliance is a non-profit organization
which develops open data transmission specifications
for the electronic exchange of business information for
the travel industry, including but not limited to the use
of XML. The schemas could be found at
http://www.opentravel.org/Specifications/SchemaIndex
.aspx?FolderName=2014A
• Members of the OpenTravel Alliance include airlines,
hotel companies, car rental companies, cruise lines,
railways, global distribution systems, distribution
companies, solutions providers, software developers
and consultants

9. Overview of Airline Booking Process
The process involves multiple steps

10. How it works
• Location database is provided by IATA(International Air Transport
Association). i.e. DEL, LON etc
• Algorithms are used to find possible routes between the source and
destination
• GDS schedule database is searched for schedule which provides flight
details
• GDS availability database provides info on available seats on scheduled
flights
• GDS Fair database provides fare details depending on the passenger
details i.e. no and type of passengers(Adult, child, infant, Diplomat, student)
etc, itinerary type(one-way, return, multi-city), booking time (Apex, super-
apex, peak hours, off-peak hours)

11. What are the systems supported by GDS?
•The GDS system includes high traffic portal travel sites or channels
including Expedia, Hotels.com, Travelocity, AAA, Hotwire, Priceline and
TravelWeb.
•Most of the travel sites connect to only one GDS. For example
makemytrip.com is connected to Amadeus. Expedia uses Sabre.
•One property cannot be connected to more than one GDS and that’s a
rule.

12. Organizations that work with Aviation Industry
In order to regulate on GDS system for accurate information, security of
passenger and cargo, airline revenues, infrastructure, fuel, taxation,
airline environment etc. organizations work with governments to form a
regulation framework. Here are few of them
IATA: International Air Transport Association
ICAO: International Civil Aviation Organization
ETTSA: European Technology and Travel Services Association
ATPCO: Airline Traffic Publishing Company
IATAN: International Airlines Travel Agent Network
SITA: Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques

13. Challenges for GDS System
• Strategic Big Data
• Mobile Devices battles
• Hybrid IT & Cloud Computing
• Actionable Analytics
• Integrated Ecosystems

14. Disadvantages of GDS
There is always a negative side to every positive. A GDS can be an asset, but
there are many hotels that chose to seek bookings through other means.
With the uncertainty of the travel industry, many properties are looking for
ways to cut costs and with a high ticket price, GDS’s are often one of the
first to go. Some of the most common reasons hotels chose to opt out of
using a GDS are:
• Money - The price of GDS’s alone is a deterrent for many properties. As a growing business, your funds may be
better invested in other areas of your property.
• Priorities - Retaining customers is more important than bringing in new ones. Making sure that guests are
comfortable with clean rooms, abundant amenities and a welcoming staff should be your first order of business.
• Industry stagnation - Despite their ability to connect agents with properties, it is ineffective if neither party uses it.
A HotelHub bookings report showed that there was no growth in GDS hotel bookings in 2011, while non-GDS
bookings saw growth.
• Declining audience - GDS mostly catches the corporate traveler segment, but business travel growth is slowing.
Businesses use travel agencies to book hotels and air travel, which a GDS is good at catching. But after tough
economic times, a company would rather solicit one hotel chain to gain leverage in negotiating lower rates.
• Controversy- Many airlines have rallied against GDS’s, claiming that the fees are unreasonable.

15. GDS Future Ahead
• GDSs were originally created as automated booking systems for
airlines. Since its conception, the GDS has gone through many
changes and has faced some serious threats along the way. In
response, GDS firms have evolved through the setbacks and
refined their products accordingly.
• GDS firms are constantly working toward creating better, more
practical solutions for their customers.
• As the industry becomes more collaborative and more inclusive, so
does the technology. Some GDS firms are recognizing the need to
include non-GDS, independent hotels in their searches in order to
offer a better range of choices.

16. Thank You!