FLIGHT Centre Travel Group (FLT) has increased its stake in Dubai-based IT provider and aggregator TPConnects from 22.5% to 70%.
The Australian travel retailer initially invested in TPConnects in February 2020 (22.5% stake) with “a view to supercharging the development of TPC’s innovative technology platform, which aggregates content from multiple sources,” it said in a statement.
TPConnects was established in 2012 by Rajendran Vellapalath and Praveen Kumar, who both maintain an ongoing involvement in the business ,and will become part of the new TPC board.
The travel tech company provides a centralised NDC Gateway, which services customers in both the aviation and travel agency sectors. It offers travel agents a range of solutions to access aggregated air content via the TPConnects universal API, which can be directly integrated into any user interface, or via agency business-to-business platforms such as the NDC marketplace portal.
FLT said its involvement in TPConnects allows it to become the first global travel management company to receive International Air Transport Association Level 4 certification, the highest level available at the time (achieved in 2020).
FLT’s increased stake in TP Connects will provide corporate travellers with a wide range of relevant travel. (Image credit: jacoblund/Getty Images)
Chris Galanty, global CEO of Flight Centre Corporate, believes FLT’s increased stake in TP Connects would provide its corporate customers with “the broadest range of relevant content through all available channels.”
He added: “By strengthening our investment and deepening our alliance with TP Connects we are able to leverage their expertise and NDC-enabled technology to enhance our ability to service our corporate customers and meet their travel programme aims both in terms of options and value.
“In this dynamic environment it’s critical that we continuously evolve innovative solutions that complement our GDS partnerships and keep us a step ahead from our competitors now and in the future.”
FLT’s leisure and supply chief executive officer, Melanie Waters-Ryan, noted that the traditional airline distribution model was being disrupted with growth in direct buyer-seller connections, new commercial models, rise in new entrant technology providers and continued connectivity enhancements.
She said FLT’s investments in TPConnects would enable the company “to source and deliver the best content to our leisure and corporate customers globally”.
“TPC has been at the heart of the evolution in airfare distribution during the past decade, is now engrained in our business and is integral to the new operating systems and platforms we are delivering in both the leisure and corporate sectors.
“By investing further in the business, we have greater influence over future developments and the product’s ongoing evolution, while ensuring we continue to deliver the widest choice of airfares to our customers.”
TPConnects’ Rajendran Vellapalath said: “FLT’s investment comes at an important time, given the rapid changes that are taking place in the distribution of air content and with the development of the Airline Retailing Maturity Index, which IATA is now pioneering.”
He added that “the strong relationship between TPC and FLT will ensure that both companies remain at the forefront of this ongoing change and play a lead role in the future evolution of distribution.”
• Featured image: TPConnects home page
