Agreement signifies the continuation of a modernisation process at THAI as it bids to deliver a seamless customer experience

Bangkok, Thailand, 21 July 2011: Thai Airways International (THAI), one of the world's most awarded carriers, and Amadeus, a leading transaction processor and provider of advanced technology solutions for the global travel and tourism industry, today announced that THAI will revolutionise its passenger service system with the introduction of the Amadeus Altéa Customer Management Solution to manage its domestic and international reservations, inventory and departure control processes.

The contract signing was celebrated with a ceremony at the Conrad Hotel in Bangkok attended by THAI President, Piyasvasti Amranand and Amadeus President of Asia Pacific, David Brett.

Piyasvasti Amranand, President of Thai Airways International said of the partnership, "THAI will use Amadeus’ advanced technology platform to drive a new standard of efficiency, profitability and seamless customer experience. THAI has made a series of moves towards becoming the leading airline in Asia and among the best worldwide. The Amadeus Altéa Suite will assist THAI in maximising our customer travel experience.”

The Amadeus Altéa Customer Management Solution supports individual airline requirements in a multi-carrier community environment, particularly beneficial to airlines that are members of a global alliance and need to share availability, fares, customer and booking information with partner airlines. This enables closer integration between partner airlines, delivering improved revenues and enabling a seamless customer experience across alliance members.

At the same time, THAI will also benefit from improved check-in processes and simplified tasks related to flight departures.

David Brett, President, Amadeus Asia said, “Our advanced technology solutions will enable THAI to remain at the forefront of change and continue to innovate in an increasingly competitive market. By choosing the full Altéa suite, THAI recognises that technology is a core component that will help it realise its goals and continue to modernise passenger processes. We are proud to be working with THAI who joins over 110 airlines globally that have chosen Altéa as their advanced passenger service system.”

Justin Erbacci, Vice President Information Technology at Star Alliance added, “We are delighted that THAI has selected the Amadeus Altéa Suite and will join the Star Alliance Common IT Platform. CITP is a strategic programme, focused on the effort to better serve the customer, markedly lower IT costs and significantly increase the speed of delivering new products to market. Once implemented, it enables participating member airlines to improve customer services and enhance operational capabilities.”

THAI and Amadeus have enjoyed a long-standing partnership. THAI already uses the Amadeus Reservations platform and has been using the Amadeus e-Retail booking engine and Amadeus e-Merchandise calendar shopping solution for its online channel for over five years. Coupled with the full Amadeus Altéa Suite, THAI will provide a superior passenger booking experience across the entire travel process, proven to drive yield and profitability. THAI also has a global content agreement with Amadeus providing over 90,000 travel agency points of sale access to THAI’s global airfare schedule.

THAI’s migration to the Amadeus Altéa Customer Management Solution is expected by 2013.