Southwest Airlines and Amadeus IT Group Sign Contract to Support the Carrier's Plan to Implement International Service

DALLAS, April 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) and Amadeus IT Group announced today that they have entered into a joint contract for Amadeus' Altea reservations solution that would support the carrier's international service.  Now that the contract is finalized, the two companies will work closely together to implement Amadeus' technology to allow Southwest to operate international flights in 2014.

AirTran Airways, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Southwest Airlines, currently serves international destinations.  As the AirTran international flights transition to Southwest, Amadeus will support Southwest's international flying. 

While the Amadeus IT Group agreement focuses on the international element of Southwest's reservation system, the contract also provides the option for Southwest to convert its domestic business to Amadeus in the future. 

"We could not be more impressed with the experience and knowledge Amadeus IT Group brings to the table," said Southwest Airlines Chairman, President, and CEO Gary Kelly. "They are a premier technology provider, and we are confident in their ability to meet and exceed our needs as we prepare for the exciting opportunity to extend the Southwest brand into the international marketplace."

Luis Maroto, President & CEO, Amadeus commented: "This agreement is a  milestone for Amadeus, both in North America and beyond.  Indeed, not only is Southwest an industry leader in terms of its size, the airline is also the global 'standard' for low-cost carriers, celebrating 39 consecutive years of profits."

Julia Sattel, Senior Vice President, Airline IT, Amadeus commented: "We are delighted to welcome Southwest to the Altea community.  Southwest has clearly selected Amadeus because of the strength of our diverse product portfolio, the capabilities of our people, and also our unmatched ability to help the airline maintain its low cost structure while providing innovative technologies that can support an ever-evolving business model."

Amadeus IT Group is the leading IT provider for the travel and tourism industry with a unique portfolio of new generation solutions and the largest customer base for passenger service systems.  Southwest Airlines is the largest U.S. carrier in terms of domestic passengers boarded and is consistently ranked number one in Customer Service by the Department of Transportation.

About Southwest Airlines Co.

Southwest Airlines continues to differentiate itself from other low-fare carriers—offering a reliable product with exemplary Customer Service. Southwest Airlines is the nation's largest carrier in terms of originating domestic passengers boarded and has acquired AirTran Airways, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Southwest Airlines Co. Southwest serves 73 cities in 38 states and remains one of the most honored airlines in the world known for its commitment to the triple bottom line of Performance, People, and Planet. To read more about how Southwest is doing its part to be a good citizen, visit southwest.com/cares to read the Southwest Airlines One Report(TM).  Based in Dallas, Southwest currently operates more than 3,200 flights a day and has more than 37,000 Employees.

About Amadeus

Amadeus is a leading transaction processor and provider of advanced technology solutions for the global travel and tourism industry.

Customer groups include travel providers (e.g. airlines, hotels, rail, ferries, etc.), travel sellers (travel agencies and websites), and travel buyers (corporations and individual travellers).  The group operates a transaction-based business model and processed more than 948 million billable travel transactions in 2011.  Amadeus has central sites in Madrid (corporate headquarters), Nice (development) and Erding (operations – data processing centre) and regional offices in Miami, Buenos Aires, Bangkok and Dubai.  At a market level, Amadeus maintains customer operations through 73 local Amadeus Commercial Organisations covering 195 countries.

Amadeus is listed on the Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and Valencia stock exchanges and trades under the symbol "AMS.MC". For the year ended December 31 2011, the company reported revenues of euro 2,707 million and EBITDA of euro 1,039 million. The Amadeus group employs around 10,000 people worldwide, with 123 nationalities represented at the central offices.

To find out more about Amadeus please visit www.amadeus.com. 

About Amadeus Altea

• The Amadeus Altea Suite is fully integrated customer management solution for airlines which includes three modules: Altea Inventory, Altea Reservation and Altea Departure Control System. The Amadeus Altea Reservation system ensures seamless reservation service across all sales channels through the unique sharing of reservation services between all airlines and Amadeus subscribers; the Amadeus Altea Inventory System provides inventory control, schedule management, re-accommodation and seating management services; and the Amadeus Altea Departure Control System provides check-in, boarding pass issuance, baggage management, and aircraft weight and balance services.
• Currently over 100 of the world's leading airlines use the Altea platform, including Air-France KLM, All Nippon Airways, Korean Air, and Qantas. In 2011 Altea processed around 439 million Passengers Boarded (referred to as a 'PB' and meaning the actual number of passengers boarded onto flights operated by airlines using at least the Amadeus Altea Reservation and Inventory modules).
• Based upon signed Altea contracts signed at the end of 2011, Amadeus estimates that the number of Passengers Boarded  will be more than 735 million by 2014 (estimation calculated by applying IATA's regional air traffic growth projections to the latest available annual PB figures for the airline).

www.southwest.com

SOURCE Southwest Airlines