Travelport revenues up 7%

Leading travel industry service provider Travelport has published its figures for the first six months of 2013 revealing its revenue is up 7% year-on-year (y-o-y).

The company also revealed its bottom line figure had increased by 5% after renewing contracts with major airlines including Delta Air Lines and signing up new carriers including Jet2.com and Norwegian Air.

“We are very satisfied with these results,” Travelport CEO Gordon Wilson told Travel Daily. “This is a mature industry and there is a lot going on within the global economy – both good and bad – so all things considered these are not a bad set of results at all.”

The company’s renewal of Delta Air Lines – the biggest airline in the world by passengers carried – was also a major positive for Travelport, in a year in which the US market shrunk by 1%.

“To be able to tell our customers we’ve got Delta – which includes all of its fares, content and new products like Economy Comfort – is very significant,” explained Wilson.

“The US is our biggest market and the biggest travel market in the world. The region is undergoing a trend of airline consolidation right now where carriers are making their money by making fewer seats available for higher prices and that has an impact. There are fewer seats to sell, so fewer transactions and the outcome has been a decline in the US market.

The company saw gains in other regions including 10% growth in Canada, outperforming market growth by 3%, after making significant investments in the country with the country’s national carrier Air Canada.

There were also significant growth in developing regions including Africa, South America and Eastern Europe Wilson added.

“Africa grew by 16% which is a huge increase,” he continued. “In the last 18 months we’ve expanded into 10 or 12 countries in Africa and although those markets are quite small it’s a burgeoning market place. We grew in South America by 14% too, which is a region where we’ve traditionally underpunched. We’re a small player there but are now starting to take strides.

“Eastern Europe was another huge growth area. Russia has a rapidly expanding middle class and we are benefiting from that. Overall the region grew by 10% however our growth was in the region of 24%.”

“We are coming out of a cycle now where we’ve been investing heavily over the last couple of years in new platforms and we’re really beginning to see the benefits. This is aligned to a geographical investment in people, which is reflecting in our figures. We are very bullish about the future.”