28 May 2009

Amadeus wins fight against IATA over PaxIS

IATA has been found guilty of breach of its contract with Amadeus by the International Chamber of Commerce.

An arbitration tribunal has found that IATA's use, in its PaxIS product, of electronic ticketing information transmitted by Amadeus, constitutes a breach of its contractual agreements with Amadeus.

The tribunal also concluded that it also infringes Amadeus' rights under the EU Database Directive.

IATA has been ordered not to use any ticketing information transmitted by Amadeus for the purpose of developing, marketing and selling PaxIS, or any other similar reports, or for any purpose, except for the orderly operation of the Billing and Settlement Plans.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœThis decision fully supports the position that Amadeus has consistently taken, that the conduct of IATA, in using Amadeus' ticketing information in its PaxIS product, infringes Amadeus' rights,Ã¢â¬~ said an Amadeus statement today.

The decision was welcomed by industry lobbying group, the Business Travel Coaltion.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœIn light of the immediate requirement for IATA to strip out Amadeus data from the PaxIS product to comply with EU law, rendering PaxIS commercially questionable, no reason remains for IATA to continue to refuse to comply with its obligations under the recently revised CRS Code of Conduct to mask the identify of travel agencies and corporate purchasers for data derived from any CRS,Ã¢â¬~ said BTC chairman Kevin Mitchell.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœIn light of this important development, airlines should see the virtue in developing and using only those data products that comply with EU rules and respect the privacy of their distribution system partners and corporate customers.Ã¢â¬~

By Bev Fearis