Amadeus, OAG have skeds for agents

Amadeus and OAG have teamed up to launch a new enhancement to provide best-in-class airline schedule information. Under the agreement, OAG now provides to Amadeus a daily transmission of schedule data files. OAG’s data is used globally by Amadeus-served travel management companies, travel web sites and agencies. John Grant, executive vice-president networks for UBM Aviation, parent company of OAG, said: “Amadeus is the first global distribution system to use a daily OAG schedule feed. This enables travel agents and their customers to access more accurate information when they’re looking to book a flight — a major competitive advantage for any global distribution system.” The OAG database contains schedules for over 1,000 airlines and over 4,000 airports. The database tracks over 28 million departures a year ahead. This data is updated continuously, and OAG processes up to 50,000 airline schedule-change messages per day. Amadeus’ director distribution marketing, David Doctor, pointed out that: “Airlines change their flight schedules to enhance margins, meet market demand, and seize competitive advantage and it is key that this information is made available quickly to travel agencies.” And he continued: “With this new agreement, we can ensure that, for airlines which file their information in OAG, schedule changes are processed and new flights proposed for sale, immediately on the day.” About one-third of the flight schedules in the Amadeus system are based on OAG’s data. Airlines can also update their schedules directly in the Amadeus system. Further details are available by going to http://www.oag.com ; http://www.ubmaviation.com ; or http://www.amadeus.com .