Air France-KLM announces GDS surcharge

Air France-KLM announced on Friday that it was to introduce a surcharge on bookings made on third-party GDS systems, beginning April 1, 2018.

Reuters reports that the company is to follow the lead of companies like British Airways and Lufthansa in adopting the GDS surcharge, with an announcement made on a conference call on Friday morning. The surcharge will initially stand at 11 euros one-way, with affected systems to include Sabre, Travelport, Amadeus, and others.

The move is part of the company’s stated intention to develop a new distribution strategy and enhance its distribution capabilities to all channels. A presentation, available on the company’s website, said that the creation of personalized offers, dynamically built product bundles and new offers and content would enhance distribution capabilities to all channels – including travel agents.

“Each channel carries its own cost dynamics,” the presentation noted. “Therefore, effective April 1, 2018, Air France/KLM will implement a Distribution Surcharge effective on GDS Sales.

“GDS are a key component of Air France KLM distribution. However, their model represents higher costs than other options do, and comes with more constraints. The Distribution surcharge covers the cost difference created by the GDS model… compared with corresponding costs of Air France KLM direct sales.”