29 May 2009

Amadeus reports slight growth in revenues for 2008

Amadeus saw total travel bookings fall by 2.1% to 526.6 million in 2008 due to the economic collapse in the second half.

But air travel bookings were up slightly year-on-year in the 12 months ending 31 December 2008, climbing 0.6% to 364.2 million.

Revenue grew by 2.2% compared with 2007, to €2,861.4 million.

Amadeus said the growth was achieved in a declining market largely thanks to a 1.7 percentage point gain in market share.

It claimed to the market leader in agency air bookings made through a GDS in 2008 with a market share of 35.6%.

"Amadeus' business showed a reassuring degree of resilience against the extraordinary financial and trading environment of the second half of last year," said David V. Jones, president and CEO.

"2008 was very much a year of two halves: a very strong first-half performance combined with the well-documented collapse in demand in the last six months meant we ended the year about level with 2007."

Looking at 2009, Amadeus said travel agencies made 9.1% fewer air bookings through Amadeus in the first quarter of 2009 than Q1 2008.

"This is slightly better than the GDS market as a whole which, we estimate, fell by 13.2% over the same period," it added.

"We will concentrate on growing our market share and continuing the evolution of our diversified business lines as we ride out the worst effects of the global recession and strengthen our position to take advantage of an eventual recovery.

"Nevertheless, there is still a long way to go before we can credibly start talking about recovery."

Amadeus said 2008 was a very strong year for business in the UK market and said opportunity for growth is "still significant".

By Bev Fearis