European Commission Rejects American Airlines / Sabre Complaint Against Amadeus
MADRID, Spain / Sept. 28, 1999--The European Commission's Directorate General for Competition (DG-IV) has declared that it intends to close a 28-month investigation against Amadeus following a complaint filed by American Airlines and Sabre in early 1997 with the US Department of Justice.
As DG-IV communicated to Amadeus, it did not discover "any infringement as alleged" and intends to close the case without further action.
American Airlines and Sabre, the reservation system controlled by American's parent company, AMR, had accused Amadeus of exclusionary conduct which did not allow Sabre to compete in Europe.
"The European Commission's action serves to reassure our customers that Amadeus's services to the travel industry are unbiased and neutral," commented David V. Jones, Amadeus SVP Marketing.
Amadeus is used by more travel agencies than any other distribution system, with 47,000 travel agency locations in over 130 countries as well as the sales offices of more than 100 airlines world-wide connected to its data processing centre. Agents can make airline, car and hotel bookings with 469 airlines, and over 50 car rental companies and 51,500 hotel properties, as well as a wide range of other travel services.