FROM COMPUTER RESERVATION SYSTEMS TO

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS

- Lesson 3 Angelina Njegu, PhD
Associate Professor at Singidunum University

Belgrade - Serbia, 2013

Table of Contents

Introduction to Computer Reservation Systems

Typical CRS Functions
Evolution of CRS
Global Distribution Systems
GDS Organisations
Challenges for CRS/GDS
Big Data

Prof. dr Angelina Njegu

What is CRS?
Computer Reservation System (CRS) is an information system

that promotes sales and provides fast and accurate

information about availability, price and bookings of tourism
products and services

Originally CRSs were developed to facilitate business transactions and

bookings related to air travel
Later, CRSs were extended for the use of travel agencies, hotels, and
other tourism and hospitality businesses to manage their inventory
and allow direct access through terminals to check for availability,
make reservations and issue tickets
Today, CRSs are of high importance for travel and tourism industry
with the main focus on direct reservations (e.g. directly in the hotel)

Prof. dr Angelina Njegu

CRS History
CRS is the first information system that was used in tourism

industry
Primarily was used as inventory-control system by airlines
In 1962 American Airlines introduced SABRE (Semi-Automated
Business Research Environment) the first commercial CRS,
developed by IBM, that was used for:
generating flight plans for the aircraft
tracking spare parts
scheduling crews ...

Figure:
SABRE Reservation system in 1960s (Venema, 2011)
Prof. dr Angelina Njegu

Typical CRS Functions

Flight schedule information

Days and times for flights operated by the airline

Availability information

Seat availability on a flight by service class (i.e. Economy, business, first class)

Fare quotes

A consolidated fare for an itinerary based on flight, day, time, service class and
passenger types chosen

Reservation information

Seat bookings

Ticketing information

Generating and storing tickets

Refunds and cancellations

Cancellation of existing reservations and tickets

Prof. dr Angelina Njegu

Evolution of CRS
In the 1970s and 80s multiple CRSs

came up
The growth of air traffic expanded
CRS

In order to distribute up-to-date

information to all potential customers
worldwide and to support the operation
and administration of airlines, CRS
evolves from the central to the
distribution system

In the mid 1980s, CRS developed into

much more comprehensive global
distribution system (GDS) offering a wide
range of tourism products and providing
the backbone mechanism for
communication between actors in
tourism industry

Prof. dr Angelina Njegu

Source: Dennis, 2012.

Travel Agent before GDSs

Travel agent required
individual connections to
airlines
If airlines used different
mainframe systems, travel
agent had to use and be
trained on different mainframe
clients

Prof. dr Angelina Njegu

Searches and reservations

were performed separately on
individual airline CRSs

Travel Agent after GDSs

Prof. dr Angelina Njegu

Source: Introduction to Airline

Reservation Systems, 2009.

From CRS to GDS

Among the first non-North American CRS, that was developed jointly by

Air France, Lufthansa, Iberia and SAS in 1987, was Amadeus

Source: Schulz, 1996

Prof. dr Angelina Njegu

Global Distribution Systems - GDS

Besides air products, today GDSs provide access to:

Car rentals

Hotel booking

Packaged holidays

Cruises and ships

Railways

Local road transport ...

GDS enable clients to compare, and access information about travel,

leisure, and other tourism related information from various tourism

service providers

Prof. dr Angelina Njegu

What is GDS?
GDS is an integrated information system and communication

channel that:

incorporates all travel services

connects service providers with end users
providing information from all segments of the journey
allows booking and selling of the required services

Today GDS is:

the most cost effective tool for buyers of business travel to manage
the complexity of supply
more than just a reservation tool - integrates the core business
processes of tourism businesses and therefore increase their
productivity, speed, and performance

Prof. dr Angelina Njegu

Major GDSs in operation today

Sabre
Amadeus
Travelport (the umbrella company for the Galileo, Apollo, and Worldspan)

4%
37%

29%

Amadeus
Sabre
Travelport
Abacus
30%

Figure: GDS Bookings Worldwide

market share (Amadeus, 2009)

Prof. dr Angelina Njegu

Sabre
Founded in 1964 by American Airlines and IBM

Headquartered in Southlake, Texas, USA

Used by www.expedia.com, www.lastminute.com,

www.travelocity.com ...

Source: Sabre Pacific, 2013.

Prof. dr Angelina Njegu

Overview of Sabre solutions

Sabre Travel Network - solutions for the travel industry
Sabre Airline Solutions - solutions for the air transportation industry
Sabre Hospitality Solutions - solutions for the hospitality industry
Travelocity - online travel company

Prof. dr Angelina Njegu

Source: Sabre Hospitality Solutions, 2013.

Amadeus
Founded in 1987 by Air France, Iberia, Lufthansa and SAS

Headquartered in Madrid, Spain

Largest booking share in Europe

Used by www.expedia.com, www.opodo.com, www.flights.com ...

Prof. dr Angelina Njegu

Overview of Amadeus principal

IT solutions offering
Airline IT

Reservation

Inventory

Departure control

e-Commerce

Amadeus Full
Alta Suite
(PSS)

Global services

Revenue integrity,
e-ticket server

Other
airline IT

Other IT solutions
Non-air

Hotel
IT

Airport
IT

Rail
IT
Source: Amadeus, 2012.

Prof. dr Angelina Njegu

Galileo
Today under Travelport GDS
Founded in 1993 by 11 major North American and European

airlines

Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Used by www.orbitz.com, www.hotwire.com and others

Prof. dr Angelina Njegu

Worldspan
Today under Travelport GDS
Founded in 1990 by Delta Airlines, Northwest Airlines and

Transworld Airlines
Merged with Galileo in 2006

Source: Travelport, 2013.

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Estimated air market share gain

(2000-2012)

Source: Amadeus, 2013.

Prof. dr Angelina Njegu

Travel Distribution Chain

Source: ETTSA, 2010.

Prof. dr Angelina Njegu

CRS Architecture

Source: TechTuners, 2013.

Prof. dr Angelina Njegu

GDS Organisations

In order to promote fair competition and to ensure that consumers do not receive
inaccurate or misleading information on travel services, it is necessary to have
regulations on GDS

Organisations work together with governments, and other relevant authorities to

help define the correct regulatory framework for the travel and transport industry

There are several organisations, such as:

IATA - International Air Transport Association

ICAO - International Civil Aviation Organization

ETTSA - European Technology and Travel Services Association

ATPCO - Airline Tariff Publishing Company

IATAN - International Airlines Travel Agent Network

SITA - Socit Internationale de Tlcommunications Aronautiques

and many others

Prof. dr Angelina Njegu

IATA
International Air Transport Association

Trade association for the worlds airlines

Representing around 240 airlines or 84% of total air traffic

Formed on 1945

Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Supports many areas of aviation activity and helps formulate industry policy and
standards on critical aviation issues, such as:

Security of passengers and cargo

Airline safety

Airline revenues

Infrastructure issues

Chargers and economic regulation and taxation

Fuel

Airline distribution

Environment ...

Prof. dr Angelina Njegu

ETTSA
European Technology and Travel Services Association
Promote the interests of GDSs and travel distributors and support full

transparency, fair competition and consumer choice in the travel

distribution chain

Launched in 2009

Based in Brussels

Members are Amadeus, ebookers, Expedia, Odigeo (and its brands eDreams,
GoVoyages, Opodo and Travelink), Sabre (including its affiliate lastminute.com), and
Travelport.

ETTSAs main activities include:

Engaging in policy-making

Providing insight and information

Reporting new developments

Prof. dr Angelina Njegu

SITA
Socit Internationale de Tlcommunications Aronautiques
IT company specialized in providing IT and telecommunication services to

air transport and related industries

Founded in 1949 by 11 airlines in order to bring about shared infrastructure cost

efficiencies by combining their communications networks

Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland

Almost every airline, airport, air cargo, and aerospace use some kind of SITAs business
solutions

SITA solutions for:

Airport, aircraft, baggage, cargo operations

Passenger operations

Transportation security

Communications and infrastructure

Commercial management ...

Prof. dr Angelina Njegu

Challenges for CRS/GDS

Prof. dr Angelina Njegu

Problems of Big Data

Analysis from Google shows that the typical traveller uses 22 websites to

research a trip, in multiple shopping sessions, before booking

The growth of Cloud, Mobile and Social Computing leads to the fact that
organisations are flooded by:

Huge volume of data

High velocity of data

Variety of data

Digital content will grow to 8ZB by 2015

Prof. dr Angelina Njegu

The physical size of Big Data

Name

Symbol

Binary

Decimal

byte

20=1 byte

100=1

kilobyte

KB

210=1.024 byte (B)

103=1.000

megabyte

MB

220=1.048.576 B

106=1.000.000

gigabyte

GB

230=1.073.741.824 B

109=1.000.000.000

terabyte

TB

240=1.099.511.627.776 B

1012=1.000.000.000.000

petabyte

PB

250=1.125.899.906.842.624 B

1015=1.000.000.000.000.000

exabyte

EB

260=1.152.921.504.606.846.976 B

1018=1.000.000.000.000.000.000

zettabyte

ZB

270=1.180.591.620.717.411.303.424 B

1021=1.000.000.000.000.000.000.000

yottabyte

YB

280=1.208.925.819.614.629.174.706.176 B

1024=1.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000

brontobyte

BB

290=1.237.940.039.285.380.274.899.124.224 B

1027=1.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000

geopbyte

GeB

2100=1.267.650.600.228.229.401.496.703.205.376 B

1030=1.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000

Bit (b) 0 or 1
Byte (B) 8 bits
Kilobyte (KB) 1024 bytes
Prof. dr Angelina Njegu

Big Data sources

Prof. dr Angelina Njegu

What is Big Data?

Source: Informatika. Available at: http://www.informatica.com/us/vision/harnessing-big-data/

Prof. dr Angelina Njegu

Prof. dr Angelina Njegu

References
1.

Markiewicz, P. (2013) Computer History Mainframe Era (1944-1978). Available at: http://plyojump.com/classes/mainframe_era.php (accessed:
17.07.2013)

2.

Venema, M. (2011). Global Distribution Systems (GDS). Edutour Education for Tourism. Available at: http://www.slideshare.net/magielsr/gdsoverview-1232798141856259-2-2359117 (accessed: 18.07.2013)

3.

Introduction to Airline Reservation Systems. Available at: http://www.slideshare.net/mave_boy/introduction-to-airline-reservation-systems-1237705

(Accessed: 17.07.2013)

4.

Dennis, B. (2012). Hospitality Internet Booking Engines & Central Reservation Systems: A thought-piece concerning online reservation technology for
the hospitality industry. Buuteeq, Seattle, WA.

5.

Schulz, A. (1996). The Role of Global Computer Reservation Systems in the Travel Industry Today and in the Future. Electronic Markets, 6(2). Available
at: http://aws.iwi.uni-leipzig.de/em/fileadmin/user_upload/doc/Issues/Volume_06/Issue_02/The_Role_of_Global_Computer_Reservation.pdf
(accessed 17.07.2013)

6.

Amadeus (2012). Corporate presentation 2012. PowerPoint presentation. Amadeus.

7.

Sabre Pacific (2013). Sabre online enhancements power increased productivity. Travel Blackboard. Available at:
http://www.etravelblackboard.com/article/143630/sabre-online-enhancements-power-increased-productivity (accessed: 18.07.2013)

8.

Sabre Hospitality Solutions (2013). Central Reservation System (CRS). Sabre. Available at: http://www.sabrehospitality.com/central-reservationsystems.php (accessed 18.07.2013)

9.

Travelport (2013). Travelport GDS Privacy Policy. Available at: http://www.travelport.com/Privacy-Policy/Travelport%20GDS (accessed: 18.07.2013)

10. Amdekar, J., Padmanabhuni, S. (2006). Future of Travel & Tourism Industry with the adoption of Web Services in Electronic Distribution. Infosys.

Available at: http://www.infosys.com/industries/hospitality-leisure/white-papers/Documents/webservices-adoption-travel-tourism.pdf (accessed

18.07.2013)

11. ETTSA (2010). Technology and Independent Distribution in the European Travel Industry. PhoCusWright . Available at:

http://www.ettsa.eu/uploads/documents/ETTSA_Study_2010_Single_Pages.pdf (accessed 18.07.2013)

12. TechTuners (2013). T-RES. Available at: http://www.techtuners.com/TRES.aspx (accessed 18.07.2013)

13. Davenport, T.H. (2013). At the Big Data Crossroads: Tuning towards a smarter travel experience. Amadeus IT Group. Available at:
http://www.bigdata.amadeus.com/assets/pdf/Amadeus_Big_Data.pdf (accessed 18.07.2013)
14. Videcom (2013). GDS Distribution. Videcom Airline Reservation Systems. Available at: http://www.videcom.com/airline-global-distribution-

systems.aspx (accessed 18.07.2013)

15. Amadeus (2013). Amadeus Introductory presentation. Available at:

http://www.investors.amadeus.com/media/files/english/column_boxes/Introductory Presentation (long form) February 2013.pdf (accessed

18.07.2013)

Prof. dr Angelina Njegu