BERLIN (Reuters) - Lufthansa (>> Deutsche Lufthansa AG) is about to take a bold step to boost profits by charging a fee for tickets booked through third parties, hoping new technology and greater price transparency will allow it to retain customers where others have failed.

The 16 euro surcharge from Sept. 1, is risky, given that the German airline sells around 70 percent of its tickets via third party channels using global distribution systems (GDS) from providers such as Amadeus (>> Amadeus IT Holding SA), Travelport (>> Travelport Worldwide Ltd) and Sabre (>> Sabre Corp).

Lufthansa, Europe's largest aviation group, says the move will save it over 100 million euros (70.17 million pounds) a year and will allow it to have more control over its prices as it battles to maintain profits in the face of tough competition.

Travel agents have threatened legal action and GDS providers described the move as a negotiating tactic. CEO Carsten Spohr, however, told journalists last month the time was ripe for an industry shake-up when it comes to GDS and that technology advances meant Lufthansa's push would work.

The airline, whose Lufthansa brand gets around half of its revenues from business class and first class tickets, has signed up to Concur's TripLink, a product that allows business travellers to book tickets at their discounted corporate rate directly via Lufthansa's own website.

"If Lufthansa succeeds in providing a seamless booking platform, which not only retains but also helps to expand its customer base, one can expect a very successful outcome from this radical change," Euromonitor senior travel analyst Nadejda Popova said.

Kepler Cheuvreux analyst Ruxandra Haradau-Doeser added that 16 euros was not much extra to pay compared to the price of a business class or long-haul ticket.

Possible losses on the short-haul would be compensated by the additional income from the fee and the fact that more customers will book directly with Lufthansa, she said.

UNHAPPY RELATIONSHIP

Airlines have a tense relationship with the GDS providers, which typically achieve much higher profit margins than the airlines whose tickets they help to distribute. Previous attempts to bypass them and send customers to their own booking systems have usually ended in airlines losing customers and then backtracking.

Ironically, it was the airlines themselves that created the GDS industry - Sabre was developed by American Airlines and IBM with the first installation in 1960, while Lufthansa set up Amadeus with Iberia (>> International Consolidated Airlns Grp SA), Air France (>> Air France-KLM) and SAS (>> SAS AB) in 1987.

Back in 2010 and 2011, American had a high-profile spat with Sabre and airline ticket sellers, just before it went bankrupt. Ryanair (>> Ryanair Holdings plc) also tried to spurn GDS contracts but reversed that decision when it wanted to entice more business trade.

"I understand why they are doing this. But this is giving us an opportunity because we are available on all the platforms," Ryanair Finance Chief Neil Sorahan said on Monday.

Lufthansa had a dispute with Amadeus in 2008 when the airline levied a surcharge on travel agents who booked using the Amadeus systems. That was resolved after two years, and an agreement with no surcharges was signed.

"There have been arguments before but airlines came back to the GDS because they lost market share. I think we'll see the same thing happen here," said Michael Gierse, a fund manager at shareholder Union Investment.

In an open letter to Lufthansa this month, German business travel association VDR warned that close to 70 percent of corporate travel buyers it surveyed either planned to avoid or were considering avoiding Lufthansa because of the new charge.

The ECTAA, representing European travel agents' and tour operators' associations, on Friday filed a formal complaint against the plan, saying it breached EU rules on the use of computerised reservation systems.

Analysts will be looking out for signs of any impact on forward bookings when Lufthansa reports results on Thursday.

(Reporting by Victoria Bryan; Additional reporting by Conor Humphries, Jeffrey Dastin and Klaus Lauer; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)

By Victoria Bryan