Court Ruling against Air India
In October 2018, Air India selected Travelport as its exclusive GDS in India, with the goal of better controlling costs but cutting ties with Amadeus and Sabre (and their agency subscribers). On January 10th, Air India suffered a setback when India's Punjab High Court overruled the airline's move. ACTA and our fellow global associations are monitoring the situation and will report significant developments as they occur.
The High Court of Punjab and Haryana has overruled the national carrier’s decision to shift domestic ticket-booking business exclusively on Travelport, asking it to continue using the services of Amadeus and others to book domestic and international flights. Air India had discontinued services of all other global distribution system (GDS) portals from December 5, 2018.
The judgement of the HC read, “An interim direction is issued to Air India Limited to continue to allow using GDS of Travelport, Sabre and Amadeus, as was being used prior to Decemeber 4, 2018 and till further orders, Air India inventory will be made available to Amadeus also, as was being done prior to December 4, 2018.”