Amadeus continues growth in North America, opens new Research & Development Center in Boston

Industry-leading innovation, expertise and collaboration will deliver benefits to customers in the U.S., Canada and beyond

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Amadeus

May 27, 2015, 08:30 ET

BOSTON, May 27, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Amadeus continues its multi-year business growth and expansion in the North America and today announces its latest milestone in that evolution: the opening of a new-era Research & Development Center in the Boston area.

Amadeus continues growth in North America, opens new Research & Development Center in Boston

"Amadeus has been growing rapidly in North America and is partnering with some of the world's biggest and best companies in the travel industry based in the US," said Scott Gutz, President and CEO of Amadeus North America. "We have the brightest talent in travel and technology and our teams are focused on building unique solutions for our customers. Our local technical talent working in tandem with our travel industry customers promotes a deep understanding and trust that is at the core of successful innovation."

Boston R&D Center reflects commitment to regional innovation and collaboration

Amadeus established its presence in the Boston "tech corridor" in 2001 with 75 employees initially focused on corporate e-commerce solutions. Now, at five times the size of its original location, the new and expanded Boston area R&D Center reflects a broad array of technical talent and brings Amadeus' experts and services closer to many of the world's leading travel companies based in North America.

"It's a dynamic environment in which we're creating the future of travel technology. We take a very collaborative approach to development. We believe in collaboration of our teams, in our workspace, with our global colleagues and, most importantly, with our customers," said Murray Mazer, head of Global Innovation for Amadeus.

The new-generation workspace is structured around work areas or "neighborhoods" where R&D professionals work in agile, cross-functional teams and can pick up and work together anywhere in the building. The environmentally-forward, open-format model represents and fosters Amadeus' core vision of bringing together the best talent and technologies to serve the needs of the market.

From savvy travel veterans to leading edge technologists and data scientists, Amadeus' R&D teams will be focusing on developing new solutions addressing some of the travel industry's most critical areas such as big data, business intelligence, low fare search, web services, hotel IT, airline ancillary services and NDC-XML initiatives.

"Thousands of industry customers and millions of travelers rely on us every day. And at a time when other companies are outsourcing or offshoring their technology services, we are thrilled to be expanding our local capabilities and resources so we can more closely work with our customers to achieve their business objectives," said Mazer. "We've been fortunate to expand our partnerships with some of the biggest and best names in travel in the region including Southwest Airlines, Expedia, Orbitz and KAYAK, among others. Our customers are all counting on us to continually deliver leading technology."

Located in the business park area of Waltham, Massachusetts, the new facility will host the majority of Amadeus' R&D efforts in the region, in tandem with additional technology activities in Amadeus' Miami and Dallas locations.

"Among 16 such R&D centers Amadeus operates, the new Boston facility is a key part of our truly global development network and focus on innovation worldwide. With its specific missions and focus areas, it will enable us to greatly enhance how we serve the broad spectrum of our travel industry customers, not only in North America but throughout the Americas region and beyond," said Herve Couturier, Executive Vice President of Research & Development for Amadeus.

Significant business growth in North America

Over the past years, Amadeus has achieved significant growth in air travel agency bookings in North America, becoming one of the fastest growing regions for the company. For year-end 2014, North America reported the highest percentage growth (14.6%) in air travel agency booking volumes among Amadeus' regions worldwide. From 2010 to 2014, Amadeus reported an 82% increase in North America travel agency bookings, moving from 34.7 million in 2010 to 63.4 million in 2014.

Amadeus' employee base has expanded along with its business and now 1,400+ employees are on the ground in the U.S. and Canada. This is a 70+% increase over the past three years and further expansion is on the horizon.

Amadeus established its presence in North America in 1985 and currently has seven offices serving customers throughout the US and Canada (in alphabetical order): Boston, MA; Chicago, IL; Dallas, TX; Miami, FL; Portsmouth, NH; Toronto, ON; and Tucson, AZ.

Notes to the editors

Amadeus

Amadeus is a leading provider of advanced technology solutions for the global travel industry. Customer groups include travel providers (e.g. airlines, hotels, rail, ferry operators, and car rental companies etc.), travel sellers (travel agencies and websites), and travel buyers (corporations and travel management companies).

The Amadeus group employs around 10,000 people worldwide, across central sites in Madrid (corporate headquarters), Nice (development) and Erding (operations), as well as 71 local Amadeus Commercial Organizations globally.

The group operates a transaction-based business model. For the year ended December 31, 2014 the company reported revenues of €3,417.7 million and EBITDA of €1,306.0 million.

Amadeus is listed on the Spanish Stock Exchange under the symbol "AMS.MC" and is a component of the IBEX 35 index.

To find out more about Amadeus please visit www.amadeus.com, and www.amadeus.com/nablog for more on the travel industry.