Amadeus has announced Air France-KLM as the latest partner for its Nevio system, bringing total carriers signed up to four.
Nevio, unveiled in October 2023, is the technology, including NDC capabilities, that Amadeus offers airlines to help them transition to the world of offers and orders and ultimately settlement and delivery. The partnership was announced at the Amadeus Altitude 25 airline event in Lisbon this week where Air France-KLM's chief commercial officer Angus Clarke described some of the rationale for making the move.
"There is always risk when you're going to invest in new platforms... but the reality is there is a strong business case to move certainly on the order side and most definitely the offer side and there are two different scenarios one has some cost benefits and the other side has revenue benefits," he said.
Clarke said it would be a big project, take multiple years to transition and would involve an investment "north of €100 million once fully implemented."
He added that the impetus for the airline group, which is currently on the Altea passenger service system (PSS), was also the need to "shut down a 20-year old system that is attached to Altea that we operate and move to modern architecture."
Subscribe to our newsletter below
He also spoke about the importance of continuing to work in the Edifact world while transitioning to a more modern path as well as the opportunity growing NDC and direct bookings with new technologies.
"The business case added up to an IRR (internal rate of return) and MVP and I then sold it internally," he said.
The goal is a better customer experience as well as the ability to remove cost and increase revenue through ancillary sales. Clarke also said that "ultimately breaking free of the PNR (passenger name record)" was also part of it.
"We know it's not next week, it's really probably a two/four/six-year journey to totally break free and probably nearer to six, but the reality is that the offer is going to be so much more rich and controllable by the customer in the new system than building new infrastructure around Altea or other legacy systems to try and make the same outcome and in theory it should be cheaper," Clarke said.
"Amadeus Nevio has been specifically designed to offer exceptional flexibility, allowing Air France-KLM to select the aligning with its unique needs, creating a perfect fit for their operations. The deal illustrates our ongoing commitment to supporting industry transformation," said Decius Valmorbida, president of travel for Amadeus, in a release shared on the partnership.
Air France-KLM joins Finnair, Saudia and British Airways as customers of the Nevio solution.
*The reporter's attendance at the event was supported by Amadeus.