This is the product that marks a “sea change” in the travel industry and signals the arrival of a new Travelport that intends to change the GDS model, said Derek Sharp, managing director, Global Distribution & Sales, yesterday when he unveiled the new platform which gives airlines a tool to differentiate and brand their offering and sell ancillaries and for travel agents to see and compare on one screen different fares and sell ancillaries.

Sharp said the old model where GDSes paid agents to use their services does not work. “Our strategy is to put products and services to the travel agency community to enable us to charge so that there is a business model around agency distribution. This will take time but we are reinventing our business to offer differentiated value so that we are not a commodity and seen merely as a cost of distribution, but a global marketing partner to our principals.

“If we can help you run your business better, that’s a better way of partnering with you than providing financial assistance.”

The new Travelport Merchandising Platform, developed over a few years and they wouldn’t say for how much, gives airlines the chance to sell what they want when they want how they want – it allows carriers to differentiate and brand their offerings, sell ancillaries and they can choose whether to upload content through the industry ATPCO or an API.

At the other end, the travel agent can see and compare on one screen the different fares through Aggregated Shopping and sell ancillaries within the existing workflow and coming up by year end, they will see rich content from airline partners so they can better upsell to their customers. In other words, the tools they need to be competitive with what’s out there in the online world of richer, graphical interfaces and rich content.

One critical piece is low cost airline content – with low cost carriers set to account for half of all air seats in Asia in a few years, the GDSes have to crack this nut and Travelport’s executives yesterday said every significant low cost carrier in Asia is in active dialogue with them. “We have a healthy pipeline of content. This is only the beginning of the journey,” said Ian Heywood, director, Airline Strategy, for Travelport.

“We have removed the vast majority of barriers for low cost airlines – they do not want to incur overheads and complexities of legacy airlines, they don’t want to publish fares and with the API, we remove that barrier. In other words, you don’t have to change the way you work, we will adapt to you.

“Low cost airlines, as they grow, have also realized they have hit a glass ceiling in terms of direct distribution and this is a tool that allows them to distribute all their content in the way they choose.”

In Europe, it’s launched Aggregated Shopping with EasyJet, allowing agents to sell EasyJet fares and ancillaries, including those only previously available on the carrier’s website.

A former airline man, Heywood said, “At its core, the concept sounds simple but this a major strategic move for the GDS industry. When I was working in the airline business, the GDS was brilliant at doing exactly what you tell it to do – distributing. But airline models are constantly changing, particularly the growth of low cost airlines.

“By 2015, half of all sectors in Japan will be low cost – with such dramatic changes, we have to cater for that. Qantas shorthaul has to compete with Virgin Australia with price, while longhaul it has to compete on product. Airlines have to compete on that level.”

And with ancillaries, estimated to be worth US$45 billion, carriers have to spread ancillaries as wide as possible and act as retailers. “That again traditional GDS have not been able to do,” said Heywood.

“Finally, we need to get it out to agencies in the way they want to sell. They tell us, yes, we need this content but we also need to get it in our normal workflow.”

Travelport’s objective is to allow agents to be more competitive by giving them a better sales tool. It wants to move them into the richer and more graphical environment offered by the Universal Desktop and by year end, Sharp said he hoped to have half of all Travelport agents migrated to this system.

“Our objective is to keep efficiency up and help agents deliver great customer service so they can have better sales conversations with their customers.”

Said Sharp, “We are driving agents towards a richer experience that will give them the confidence to make a booking. In a cryptic environment, this is challenging. It’s also more appealing to a younger generation. In the US, the average of a travel agent is 50. Young people like more intuitive technology.

“And if we want travel agents to become better sales people, we have to get there through technology.”

He said with strong competitors out there, “Travelport can’t do the same old GDS and we are starting to fulfill what the brand is heading towards – a pure and true distribution and sales company.”