Amadeus and nasair sign global distribution agreement

The agreement allows nasair to distribute its content to Amadeus' across-the-board network of travel agency points of sale, connected to the Amadeus GDS system worldwide and representing a global market share of over 38 per cent of travel agency air bookings.

Travel agents will be able to search, book and ticket nasair flights directly from their Amadeus system. They will be granted access to the entire range of fares, schedules and inventory of nasair as the agreement ensures full channel parity between content distributed on its direct channels, including the airline's website, and content distributed via Amadeus GDS.

Saudi Arabia is the largest air market in the Middle East with over 20 million annual bookings from the travel agencies channel, according to Amadeus estimates, and one of the fastest growing markets. According to recent analysis*, regionally Saudi Arabia took giant strides towards tourism prominence. The analysis saw growth figures reach 15% in 2011, putting Saudi Arabia amongst the top five countries with the highest percentage growth in outbound passengers between 2010 and 2011.

Through this partnership, nasair, one of the fastest growing airlines in Saudi, will gain access to an extensive worldwide network of travel agencies whilst expanding distribution beyond its traditional channels, developing its presence in Saudi Arabia, the MENA market and beyond. Likewise, travel agents connected to Amadeus will enjoy seamless and more convenient booking and ticketing workflows when selecting and booking nasair flights, without the need to switch to external application.

"We are very pleased with our partnership with Amadeus," said Francois Bouteiller - CEO nasair.

"Our full content agreement with Amadeus highlights the value of the travel agencies in our business strategy and comes as an important part of our distribution strategy to ensure our flights are available to the largest possible audience across Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. Through this agreement, we guarantee that travel agencies will have a handy access to our wide-ranging and comprehensive travel products. We look forward to continuing to work closely with Amadeus over the coming years."

Antoine Medawar, Vice-President, Middle East and North Africa, Amadeus, said: "Amadeus is committed to securing full content partnerships with key global and regional airlines. nasair has carefully chosen Amadeus because of the strength of our global distribution footprint, the opportunity to target higher yield business passenger and to reach new segments. Under the terms of this agreement, Amadeus agents now have guaranteed access to all nasair content on a worldwide basis."