INSIGHT
FCM and Amadeus: how partnerships are helping to prepare for a return to travel
Over the last few years, the technology that supports a traveller’s journey has changed significantly. As businesses around the globe work hard to recover from the impact of COVID-19, rethinking how travel technology will help in that recovery and the subsequent bounce back is more important than ever before.
This is why FCM is working closely with industry partners like Amadeus, one of the world’s largest travel technology companies, to develop solutions that will support the changing travel needs of businesses.
A decade of partnership
FCM and Amadeus have been working closely with each other since 2010, delivering a number of innovative solutions including FCM’s powerful online booking solution, Seeqa, which is built on Amadeus cytric Travel and aggregates GDS, non-GDS and FCM proprietary content.
Meanwhile, during the recent challenges of Covid-19, FCM’s Travel Consultants have been able to support customers from home without interruption thanks to Amadeus’ cloud based Selling Platform Connect solution. Amadeus’ Touchless technology (Queue Management) also ensures FCM’s Travel Consultants are always aware of bookings which require attention.
As we face the challenges of today and look to the future, technology and innovation will be powerful enablers of change and help deliver on traveller needs to make better and safer journeys.
By working closely together, FCM and Amadeus can ensure the technology is in place to support the changing travel needs of businesses in a COVID-19 world. This includes delivering efficiencies and reducing spend through policy management, pre-trip approval, and country information, providing access to content in multiple touchpoints and delivering a seamless and consistent user and customer experience. Moreover, Amadeus’ Business Intelligence reports have been shared with FCM’s business owners to help them make informed, data-driven decisions about restarting business travel.
To meet companies’ increasing need for flexibility in their travel programme, Amadeus Ticket Changer, ATPCO Emergency Flexibility for Voluntary Changes and Refunds enhancement has cut re-issue time dramatically; tickets can be re-issued within seconds, instead of a manual re-issue time of about 30 minutes. This has also enabled tickets to be automatically re-issued via the Amadeus Ticketing robot.
Built on FCM and Amadeus’ “Customer First” approach, these technology solutions are helping FCM support and navigate their customers through the COVID-19 crisis and prepare for when travel restrictions are progressively lifted.
From launch partner to industry leader: FCM’s NDC programme continues to evolve
FCM’s drive to lead integration of a long-term digital NDC (New Distribution Capability) booking solution globally in the corporate sector has continued during COVID-19.
FCM joined Amadeus’ NDC [X] programme in 2018 and has since engaged in high level cross-industry workshops with Amadeus and other industry players. Its first live NDC booking was made in June last year. Through Amadeus, FCM now has access to the NDC content of a number of airlines and continues to test the new features and content as they become available and pushed into a customer facing environment. FCM is also piloting accessing NDC content via Amadeus cytric Travel & Expense, which will be going live later this year.
Flight Centre Travel Group’s Manager of Air Content and Distribution, Nicola Ping, is positive about the progress FCM is making, even during a crisis like COVID-19; “By the end of 2020 we’re hoping that NDC will no longer be a project and it will be business as usual, so we can book all airline content in one place and offer a much better online and offline experience for our customers. By that time airlines can start to get really creative around personalisation and we can deliver that through our partnership with Amadeus.”