Monarch Airlines has confirmed its “imminent” reappearance on global distribution systems (GDSs) used by travel agents pending the completion of talks with one or more technology providers.
A spokeswoman for Monarch told Travel Weekly: “We are currently in discussions with a number of GDSs.”
However, nothing has been signed and she said: “I’m unable to give an indication of exactly when Monarch will return and to which system(s).”
Monarch withdrew from GDSs Amadeus and Travelport-owned Galileo exactly two years ago, saying it had witnessed a “huge” fall in GDS sales.
Agents who previously accessed Monarch flights via GDSs were compelled to book on the airline’s website or through the Monarch group’s flight-only operator Avro. Monarch withdrew from the other leading GDSs, Sabre and Worldspan – also owned by Travelport – in 2008.
The managing director of Monarch scheduled operations at the time, Liz Savage, explained the move by saying: “We have seen a huge decrease in direct GDS sales, largely due to agents using other methods to access our lowest fares.”
The U-turn was revealed in a Monarch announcement that a new head of airline sales, Stuart Bailey, has been appointed to manage “the group’s imminent return to selling via GDS”.
However, now Monarch says its withdrawal was because it had the wrong kind of connectivity.
The spokeswoman told Travel Weekly: “The reason for withdrawing was because we had Type B connectivity, which meant information in the GDS was not real time . . . [this] resulted in issues when agents were making bookings.
“Now we will have real-time information with a direct API [Application Programming Interface] link, which will result in the GDS showing real-time fares and availability for Monarch flights, hence Monarch’s imminent return to selling via the GDSs.”
Monarch business development director Stuart Jackson said: “The GDS is an increasingly significant route to market for Monarch and the airline’s return to selling through this channel is an important step in providing the trade with easier access to Monarch flight inventory.”