Indigo enters partnership with Travelport

New Delhi: Domestic budget carrier IndiGo has partnered with travel commerce platform Travelport to distribute its fares and ancillary products to portal's customers.

This distribution platform will enable IndiGo to provide its content via an API (application program interface) connection than the more traditional fare filing methods, IndiGo said in a release.

The strategic partnership will also help IndiGo reach customers in international markets as it continues to expand its route network into destinations in the Indian Subcontinent, the Middle East and South East Asia, according to the release.

"This arrangement with Travelport will allow us to reach new customers, both at home and overseas, in a cost-effective manner without incurring the traditional costs associated with participating in global distribution platforms, using old style industry mechanisms and instead, enabling our real time connectivity to the GDS platform via an XML API link," IndiGo President Aditya Ghosh said.

Travelport offers fully integrated, industry leading merchandising capabilities and is used extensively by travel agencies in India as well as other key target markets for IndiGo.

The Gurgaon-headquarterd airline by domestic market share, IndiGo currently operates a fleet of 112 aircraft including the new Airbus A320 Neos.

This is the first time that IndiGo has struck a deal with a global GDS (Global Distribution System) player.

Through the strategic partnership, the airline will also use Travelport's leading merchandising capabilities to bring IndiGo's brand proposition to life for travellers arriving into India and then seeking domestic flights within the country, it said.

"IndiGo has selected Travelport as its global distribution partner. It is very news for all of our connected travel agencies in India and around the world," Travelport's managing director for Air Commerce Derek Sharp commented on the tie-up with IndiGo.