Amadeus: investments in line with an "accelerating recovery

At the start of the 2022 school year, which theIFTM Top Resa will ring its final bell on 20 September, Amadeus balances caution and optimism in a still convalescent business travel market. "We have learnt to be cautious over the last two years, but overall we are seeing an acceleration in the recovery in the second quarter."This is what Bertrand Poey had to say at a press conference held on 5 September ahead of the Paris show. The Managing Director of Amadeus France describes a level of activity that is three quarters of what it was in 2019, for both distribution and IT. French business travellers are back on board, pushing the European market to catch up. "We have returned to occupancy rates in the air transport sector that are more or less comparable to the world average, while France and Europe were behind schedule in 2020 and 2021up to minus 25%"notes Bertrand Poey. However, this trend needs to be put into perspective, as he points out that airline capacity has been largely revised downwards, and will not approach pre-pandemic levels until the end of 2023.

All in all, the lessons learnt over the last few months have been rather positive, according to the heads of theAmadeusThis is at least what many observers had predicted. " The good news is that even though many people thought the end of business travel, there has been a revival, a stronger recovery than most forecasts had predicted," stresses Bertrand Poey. Many companies are back in the field, especially SMEs.".

business travel has been enriched by MICE, because with the increase in teleworking, the aim has been to recreate links and commuting with employees who have moved to the provinces

Bertrand Poey Managing Director, Amadeus France

However, the Managing Director of Amadeus for France notes that the face of business travel has changed, and market players are going to have to come to terms with this and, above all, adapt to it. "It's clear that business travel is not quite the same as it used to be, and some large companies have scaled back. Since the end of the first quarter of 2022, business travel has been enriched by MICEbecause with the teleworking it was about recreating linksand commutingWith employees having moved to the provinces. So the outlook is positive, which was not at all the case when we were talking about business travel in 2020. There are things we can do, even if it means we have to adapt.".

This means adapting, but also investing again, even though Amadeus did not put its work on hold during the pandemic. "In 2021, still under pressure, we have spent 780 million euros, whereas in 2019 we were not far from one billion."says Denis Lacroix, Chairman of Amadeus SAS. "In the second quarter of 2022, our R&D expenditure grew by 30%. We are therefore almost back to pre-crisis levels, which is a demonstration of our confidence in the future. Of course, there are factors beyond our control. But fundamentally over the long term, we are very confident".

Amadeus' technological ambitions can also count on the support of a first-rate partner, Microsoftwith whom the relationship is visibly fruitful. Evoking a veritable "alignment of the planets"Denis Lacroix: "We've really found each other, and the more we work with them, the more we identify things we can do together.". Business travellers have already been benefiting from these joint projects for several months now, with the integration of Cytric Easy and Microsoft 365, linking the employee's day-to-day environment (Outlook, Teams) with Cytric's travel tools. "This is the first concrete announcement, but there are many initiatives underway with Microsoft"Amadeus managers warn. Business travellers will be able to discover these new features at the IFTM Top Resa event, from 20 to 23 September.