JEDDAH: Galileo by Travelport, one of the world’s largest global distribution system (GDS) providers operating both the Galileo and the Worldspan brands providing real-time travel information and booking capabilities to online and offline travel agencies, was formally launched at a meeting of travel trade here on Tuesday night.
“Galileo by Travelport will start its direct operations across Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt from January 2009, following the end of Galileo’s contract with Saudi Arabian Airlines,” Fazal Muhammed, director of Galileo by Travelport, said in his presentation.
Galileo has been present in the Kingdom for the last 16 years. “But now, the contract with Saudia has ended and Galileo is being newly launched as part of Travelport,” he said, adding that an estimated 600 travel agencies with 3,000 staff Kingdomwide are using Galileo.
“We have three offices staffed with 40 people in the Kingdom’s major cities and a call center in Jeddah, which will be intercity linked and providing installations through Riyadh-based Ebtikkar,” he added.
“Continuing our commitment to the region, we will work with you directly to bring you Galileo’s reach and range of service, content, quality and technology,” he told the large number of travel agents and tour operators who were present at the Westin Jeddah hotel.
“As a global company, our pursuit of excellence has led us to introduce a stream of new services which, supported by a worldwide network of call centers, are being introduced across the Kingdom,” he said. Travelport, a US company headquartered in the UK, will have a ‘Help Desk’ team of 16 multilingual analysts with experience in Saudi markets. The new team will be deployed to cover extended working hours and public holidays and equipped with adequate stand-by support even when markets are closed.
Hari Kumar Manivannan, Galileo by Travelport’s regional product manager for the Middle East, explained how Travelport customers stood to benefit from access to one of the industry’s most powerful, reliable and responsive travel distribution and hosting platforms.
