Travelport has today announced a first of its kind solution that allows airport express services to be offered to travel agency customers using a plugin on Travelport’s Travel Commerce Platform. The new plugin has been developed by a UK-based company Developer Connections Ltd, which is part of Travelport’s Developer Network.
Travelport is the first travel platform to be able to offer a solution for airport express services, which operate frequent fast rail services between an airport and local city. Today’s announcement demonstrates the importance of, and Travelport’s commitment to, an open platform that allows the brightest and best developer talent from around the world to build tools that address the unmet needs of the global travel industry.
Heathrow Express is the first customer to have signed up to be part of this unique service, which is now live. It means travel agents can now book electronic tickets for Heathrow Express using Travelport Smartpoint. In addition, travel agents will be able to offer travellers the same priced tickets on Heathrow Express services as those buying direct.
The application also:
- Enables multiple airport express service providers connectivity through a single application
- Provides all available classes of service to the agent
- Offers electronic ticketing
- Automatically integrates PNR data
Simon Ferguson, Travelport Managing Director, UK, Ireland & Nordics, said: “This is really exciting news and a win-win for all parties concerned. Heathrow Express can reach more passengers, travel agents can offer a more effective end-to-end service for their customers, and both will increase revenues as a result.
“Travelport is excited to be the first of any travel platform to be able to offer this solution in conjunction with Developer Connections Ltd and to be able to integrate access to this content on to Travelport Smartpoint. We are also thrilled that our first partnership is with Heathrow Express. The new application is a great step forward and it is an important part of many travellers’ journeys that simply wasn’t being addressed by traditional GDSs. We are having extremely positive conversations with other airport express services all over the world and hope today’s announcement will be the first of many.”
Angus McIntyre, Head of Business Development, Heathrow Express, said: “For our customers the Heathrow experience begins and ends when they step on or off our train at Paddington. Seamless travel – that’s our aim. Travelport’s new system will help us achieve that, as well as enabling us to reach many more potential customers booking through travel agencies.”
Paul McDermott, owner at Developer Connections Ltd, added: “It’s great to be a part of Travelport’s Developer Network, which gives us access to important travel companies that might otherwise be beyond our reach. By working closely with the Travelport team we have had the opportunity to develop this new plugin that we hope will benefit airport express services all over the world and expand our own business.”
To find out more and to download the free application, see: www.travelportmarketplace.com
TAP Portugal Signs Up for Rich Content and Branding
Meanwhile, Travelport has also announced that TAP Portugal has committed to its airline merchandising solution, Travelport Rich Content and Branding. A total of 91 airlines have now signed up, including British Airways, Delta Air Lines, easyJet, Iberia, Ryanair, United and WestJet.
