The divestiture of the Worldspan global distribution system (GDS) was completed in July as Travel Transaction Processing Corporation (TTPC), a company formed by Citigroup Venture Capital Equity Partners and Teachers' Merchant Bank, finalised its purchase from Delta, Northwest and American airlines.
Although TTPC has not said what each carrier received, reports say Delta, which had a 40% stake in Worldspan, received $285 million; Northwest, which owned 34%, got $280 million; and American, which held 26% from its purchase of TWA, received $180 million.
TTPC named Rakesh Gangwal, the former US Airways and United executive and Air France consultant, as its chairman. Gangwal said Worldspan would "focus on global expansion through broader deployment of its proven technologies and travel distribution products" and enlarge its portfolio of IT and hosting services for airlines and other travel suppliers.
Forrester Research senior analyst Henry Harteveldt said Worldspan "will be pressured to keep its fees competitive and will likely lose carrier participation in weak markets like South America and Asia". He predicted TTPC would sell Worldspan "once travel recovers and GDS deregulation dust settles". The USDepartment of Transportation is considering rewriting its reservations systems rules.
Source: Airline Business
