Travel businesses released healthy report cards this first quarter of the year. Two giants in the distribution business – Amadeus and Travelport – saw growths in revenues with Asia Pacific doing particularly well.
Travelport’s net revenue increased 7% to $651 million and net income increased to $56 million. Its travel commerce platform revenue increased by 7% with revenue growth across all regions.
Travelport’s summary of first quarter earnings
“We have started 2017 well with a particularly strong performance in Asia Pacific, the world’s fastest growing and largest travel region, where we grew our air market share and saw our highest level of quarterly revenue growth for over five years,” said Gordon Wilson, president and CEO of Travelport.
Travelport attributed most of its net revenue growths to its high-performing Travel Commerce Platform which brought it revenues of $43 million. Within that, air revenue increased by 7 percent, while beyond air revenue increased by 9 percent.
Over at Amadeus, the storyline was similar. Total revenues went up 11.7%, to €1,250.8 million (US1.36 billion). In the distribution segment, total travel agency air bookings rose to 154.3 million, representing growth of 9.3%. In IT Solutions, passengers boarded increased 24.6% to 339.6 million.
Amadeus TA air bookings showed growth all around
Amadeus distribution revenue increased to €837.4 million, 11.4% more than in the same period last year. According to its earnings report, travel agency air bookings grew 9.3% to 154.3 million – outperforming GDS industry growth of 6.7%. During the first quarter, travel agency air bookings grew across all regions with Latin America, Asia & Pacific and North America registering the strongest growth, of 19.9%, 11.7% and 12.0% respectively.
“We look forward to the rest of the year with confidence. The migration of Southwest Airlines (domestic passengers) and the roll-out of the Amadeus Guest Reservation System with InterContinental Hotels Group will be among the key business milestones in the coming months,” noted Amadeus’ president and CEO Luis Maroto.
China’s travel behemoth Ctrip.com International also showed impressive gains. Its net revenues for the first quarter of the year increased 46% year-on-year to RMB6.1 billion (US$883.6 million).
“This is the first quarter we consolidated Skyscanner results,” said James Liang, executive chairman of Ctrip.com International. “By leveraging Skyscanner and other strategic overseas investments, we expect to further strengthen our international product offerings and improve user experiences for both Chinese and international travellers.”
“We kicked off 2017 with great results,” said Jane Jie Sun, its chief executive officer. “The group has continued to achieve healthy revenue growth and margin expansion. We have also been making great strides in penetrating into lower-tier cities and expanding into international markets.”
For the second quarter of 2017, Ctrip expects the net revenue growth to continue at a year-on-year rate of approximately 40 to 45%.
