Travelport has set out its case against the antitrust investigation in the US claiming American Airlines’ complaint is “unabashedly an effort to secure a more favourable position”.
In a 25-page court memorandum Travelport accuses American Airlines of deliberately painting of false and outdated picture of the current marketplace to support the antitrust lawsuit.
“It is an opportunistic lawsuit brought by a large and powerful company seeking to enhance its already substantial commercial bargaining leverage,” it states.
The document claims the action American Airlines has taken against Orbitz was “bullying” and had led to a halving of its capitalisation since the airline pulled ticketing authority.
“AA also demonstrated its power during the prior round of negotiations with Travelport when AA threatened to withdarw AA content from the global distribution system unless Travelport provided AA with significant discounts.
“Travelport had no choice but to provide these discounts despite the fact that GDS burdens have skyrocketed as more consumer search and compare fares using the GDSs,” the document says.
Travelport claims the underlying reason for American Airlines complaint was that “the marketplace has not embraced AA’s unproven and inefficient direct connect technology and that the GDSs remain highly valued by many airlines and travel agencies”.