Jay Boehmer

Airline bookings handled through Amadeus'global distribution system during the third quarter rose 4.4 percent year over year to 117.5 million, backed by a stronger demand environment, particularly in Asia, and "continued high NDC booking growth," Amadeus travel unit president Decius Valmorbida said last week during the company's third-quarter results call.

Four years ago, American Express Global Business Travel acquired travel-focused AI and natural-language startup 30SecondsToFly. After developing AI at the world's largest travel management company, 30SecondsToFly co-founder Riccardo Vittoria is back for another bite at the apple—or maybe another fruit—with Acai Travel.

Ryanair's fare and ancillary content late last month went live in Concur Travel through a direct connection. While the Irish low-cost carrier's bookings for now do not include a client-paid surcharge, one is on the docket for 2025, according to a post from the T&E tech provider.

American Express Global Business Travel and CWT have offered the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority several remedies to allay the regulator's competitive concerns over their proposed merger, including price caps for existing customers, service commitments, potential client divestitures and an opening of CWT's global partner network.

The U.S. General Services Administration on Wednesday announced it had awarded IBM the contract for ETSNext, the federal government's next-generation E-Gov Travel Service platform that will replace ETS2 within three years.

American Airlines and Sabre on Tuesday announced a "multi-year" renewal of their technology partnership that includes the airline's use of the SabreSonic passenger services system and Prism contract-monitoring software. Preceding the announcement, the parties agreed to settle a lingering dispute about $139 million in court costs the airline was trying to recoup from Sabre over litigation that dates back to 2011.

Some travel management companies vying for federal government business under the ETSNext program have filed pricing proposals with the U.S. General Services Administration. A few, including Adtrav, Duluth Travel and Travel Inc., list a surcharge for New Distribution Capability-based air transactions booked outside of global distribution systems.

Travelport on Tuesday confirmed it has undertaken "organizational changes" but declined to comment on the scale or scope of any reductions to its workforce. "Our Travelport+ upgrade program is now almost complete, bringing that development phase, and the need for specific skills, to an end," according to a Travelport spokesperson.

The U.S. Department of Justice is preparing to file a lawsuit as soon as this week to block American Express Global Business Travel's planned acquisition of CWT, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. DOJ intervention in the transaction, if it comes to pass, would follow the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority's merger review and set the stage for a harried January in the deal's evolution.

The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday filed a lawsuit to block American Express Global Business Travel's proposed acquisition of CWT, alleging the merger would diminish competition for U.S.-based multinational businesses.