As Travelport's Rich Content & Branding merchandising solution continues to make waves across the Middle East's aviation sector, Major Middle East Carrier becomes latest airline to sign up

Aug 24, 2015

Dubai, UAE, 23 August 2015: Travelport (NYSE:TVPT), a leading Travel Commerce Platform, has announced that Middle East Airlines (MEA) is the latest carrier to sign up to its innovative airline merchandising technology, Travelport Rich Content and Branding and its fares are now ready to be searched and sold through Travelport Smartpoint 6.0.

Following this new agreement, Middle East Airlines will be utilise Travelport's Rich Content and Branding, which enables airlines to market and retail their offering more effectively by controlling how their products are visually presented and described on travel agent screens, and is available through the latest version of the Travelport Smartpoint agency desktop, 6.0. The solution has received widespread support and interest from airlines since launch, with well over a hundred airlines signed up to participate in Rich Content and Branding, including South African Airways, Comair, Kulula, Etihad, Gulf Air, and Kenya Airways.

Middle East Airlines is the national flag-carrier airline of Lebanon. With one of the most modern fleets in the world, it operates scheduled international flights to Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa from its base at Rafic Hariri International Airport. Celebrating its 70th anniversary in May of this year, MEA has been SkyTeam member since 2012.

Mr. Nizar Khory, Head of Commercial at MEA, commented: "Middle East Airlines prides itself on offering the latest technology and solutions to our travel agent partners and travelers alike and through our partnership with Travelport, we can now more efficiently present our products to our customers. We are happy with our decision to sign up to RC&B, as we understand that the branded images and descriptions presented on agents' screens through RC&B and Travelport Smartpoint 6.0 will help travel agents promote and tailor our unique offering to meet the needs of travelers."

Rabih Saab, President and Managing Director, Africa Middle East and South Asia, Travelport, added: "We are delighted that Middle East Airlines has recognised Travelport's technologies as a key driver of growth for their business. Travelport is redefining travel commerce by introducing innovative new products and we will continue to partner with Middle East Airlines in the effective delivery of their content to Travelport's global network of over 67,000 travel agencies worldwide."

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Notes to editors

About Travelport (www.travelport.com)

Travelport is a Travel Commerce Platform providing distribution, technology, payment and other solutions for the $8 trillion global travel and tourism industry. With a presence in over 170 countries, over 3,400 employees and 2014 net revenue of $2.1 billion, Travelport is comprised of:

  • A Travel Commerce Platform through which it facilitates travel commerce by connecting the world's leading travel providers with online and offline travel buyers in a proprietary business to business ("B2B") travel marketplace. In addition, Travelport has leveraged its domain expertise in the travel industry to design a pioneering B2B payment solution that addresses the needs of travel intermediaries to efficiently and securely settle travel transactions.
  • ​Technology Services through which it provides critical IT services to airlines, such as shopping, ticketing, departure control and other solutions, enabling them to focus on their core business competencies and reduce costs.

​Travelport is headquartered in Langley, UK. The Company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and trades under the symbol "TVPT".

For Travelport media enquiries, please contact:

Media Contacts:

Siobhan McCarthy, PR Manager AFMESA
Tel: +971 (0) 43614800
Mob: +971 (0) 501070018
siobhan.mccarthy@travelport.com
Kate Aldridge, VP Corporate Communications
Tel: +44 (0)1753 288720
Mob: +44 (0)7921 698757
Email: kate.aldridge@travelport.com

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