Saudia boosts Amadeus links

Amadeus, a major travel technology partner and transaction processor for the global travel and tourism industry, has announced that Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia), a member of the SkyTeam Alliance, has signed up for Amadeus’ new Passenger Revenue Accounting solution.
The deal strengthens the current partnership between Saudia and Amadeus and demonstrates their mutual willingness to expand the existing relationship beyond the core modules of the Altea Suite, Amadeus Passenger Service System.
Amadeus will be providing Saudia with an industry-leading passenger revenue accounting solution that will support the airline on its steady growth path.
Saudia will be the first carrier to implement this new generation solution and is working in close cooperation with Amadeus to roll out the Amadeus Passenger Revenue Accounting solution early 2013.
In preparation for the migration, Saudia Director General Khaled Al-Mulhem has approved an aggressive business plan to re-establish the organization of revenue accounting within the company and oversee the hiring of highly educated Saudi nationals.
The airline has also commissioned an intensive training and knowledge build-up program to prepare Saudia to take over its passenger revenue accounting processes.
Muhammad Ali Albakri, VP-IT at Saudi Arabian Airlines said: “Saudia’s choice to adopt the Amadeus Passenger Revenue Accounting solution is a strategic choice, which came as a result of months of consideration and joint discussions between Saudia and our technology strategic partner, Amadeus. For Saudia to be a launch airline for this new generation passenger revenue accounting system is an exciting venture that will enable Saudia to positively influence the design of the brand new system.”
Christophe Bousquet, VP-development, Amadeus, said: “We are delighted to expand our strategic partnership with Saudia.”
Antoine Medawar, VP, MENA, Amadeus, said: “We at Amadeus are committed to providing the best in class technology to support the travel industry growth in the Middle East.”