2nd UPDATE: US Airways Sues Sabre For Anticompetitive Actions
22 4월 2011 - 4:19AM
Dow Jones News
US Airways Group Inc. (LCC) is seeking hundreds of millions of
dollars in damages from Sabre Holdings Corp. after launching an
antitrust suit against the travel-services provider that
intensifies the battle between airlines and distributors.
Sabre runs the largest U.S. global distribution system, or GDS,
which provide travel agents with airline fares and schedules and
which form a crucial link with premium corporate customers. The
company is owned by private-equity companies Silver Lake and
TPG.
US Airways said Sabre accounted for $4 billion of its ticket
sales in 2010 and also said it was forced to sign a new deal with
the company earlier this year or face a ruinous loss of
business.
The Phoenix-based airline alleged Sabre "has engaged in a
pattern of exclusionary conduct to shut out competition, protect
its monopoly pricing power and maintain its
technologically-obsolete business model."
Airlines have for years been trying to force changes in the way
that GDS operate, pushing for more flexibility to sell tickets and
other products through their own websites.
The industry also sees the business model of the GDS
industry--which takes data from airlines and then charges them for
each booking based on that information--as outdated and
unsustainable.
American Airlines parent AMR Corp. (AMR) has been at the
forefront of efforts to shake up the industry structure, battling
Travelport--which owns three GDS platforms and online ticket seller
Orbitz Worldwide Inc. (OWW)--as well as Expedia Inc. (EXPE).
AMR, which used to own Sabre, is also in dispute with the
company but, after a brief court battle, agreed to try to secure a
fresh deal with the company by June.
Sabre wasn't immediately available for comment.
The company's Americas business is run by a former US Airways
executive, and the airline is the first in the industry to renew
agreements signed with GDS operators in 2006 that expire over the
next 12 months. Other U.S. carriers remain in talks with Sabre,
Travelport's Apollo, Galileo and Worldspan GDS units and Amadeus IT
Holding SA (AMS.MC), which has a small footprint in the Americas
but which is the largest player in Europe.
US Airways isn't expected to sue other GDS operators, according
to people familiar with the situation.
-By Doug Cameron, Dow Jones Newswires; 312-750-4135;
doug.cameron@dowjones.com
--Joan E. Solsman contributed to this article.
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