Amadeus reports fall in airline GDS bookings leading to profit decline

Amadeus reported a near 4% fall in airline bookings year on year in the six months to June, resulting in a similar fall in profits due to the crisis in the Middle East, and warned the continuing crisis would impact its growth outlook.

The travel technology group which includes the Amadeus global distribution system (GDS) recorded 238 million GDS bookings in the first half the year, a 3.7% decline on 2025.

Passenger numbers boarded using Amadeus airline systems were up 1.1% year on year at almost 1.09 billion, and group revenue rose 2.3% to €3.33 billion.

However, air distribution revenue was down 1.5% on the first half of 2025 at €1.58 billion and profits down 3.7% to €700 million.

Amadeus reported its air distribution business had a strong start to the year, and half-year revenue still grew 1.1% on the previous year at constant currency.

But from March the situation in the Middle East “caused a heightened level of booking cancellations and air traffic disruptions [and] our bookings contracted by 3.7% in the six-month period”.

However, revenue per booking “continued to grow healthily, expanding 5.1% at constant currency”.

At the same time, managing the increased disruption to travel “resulted in higher transaction volumes in the second quarter” for Amadeus’ airlines IT business.

In its half-year results statement, Amadeus hailed its “solid growth and profitability” but noted: “The geopolitical situation in the Middle East has been significantly impacting global air traffic, with Iata announcing negative growth in April and May.

“Whilst we have a diversified business that provides resilience against volume impacts, this geopolitical situation has moderated our growth outlook.”

Amadeus president and chief executive Luis Maroto said: “Amadeus delivered solid revenue and profit growth in the first half, while maintaining sustained commercial momentum across our businesses.

“Despite volumes softening from March following the geopolitical situation in the Middle East, both customer demand for our solutions and our commercial pipeline remained strong.”

He argued: “The recent slowdown in air traffic expectations has had a limited impact on our outlook, highlighting the breadth and diversification of our business across customers, segments and geographies.”

Maroto added: “We continue to embed artificial intelligence capabilities across our portfolio and expand our strategic partnerships, including with Google, to orchestrate the AI-enabled travel ecosystem.”