American Airlines and Travelport Sign Distribution Agreement; Resolve Litigation

Travelport and American Airlines have signed a new long-term, global distribution agreement.

In addition to enabling continued access to shop and book the full content of flights marketed by American Airlines, the new agreement positions Travelport to become the first global distribution system to offer access to American’s other products and services.

Following a period of technical integration, Travelport and American plan to use their technology, including both Travelport’s Universal API technology and American’s XML-based direct connect interface, to deliver additional capabilities to all Travelport subscribers, including the ability to sell American’s newly introduced Main Cabin Extra seating product.

Main Cabin Extra makes travel more comfortable by providing four to six inches of additional legroom and Group 1 boarding. And, since Main Cabin Extra seating is close to the front of the plane, customers can get on and off the plane much faster.

Dan Westbrook, vice president and general manager of Global Distribution Sales and Service, Travelport, said, “All of our subscribers will continue to access American’s full content, while American can merchandize its full line of products through Travelport, providing consumers and travelers a transparent marketplace and the ability to shop and book all services at their channel of choice.”

American and Travelport also resolved all litigation between themselves. The terms of the settlement agreement require review and approval by the court presiding over AMR Corporation’s restructuring.