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Abacus enters joint venture with Lao Airlines
After over a year of preparations, Asia-Pacific's leading provider of travel solutions and services, Singapore-based Abacus International Pte Ltd, on Wednesday signed a joint venture agreement with Lao Airlines.
The agreement will result in the creation of the Lao Abacus National Marketing Company to provide a global distribution system for travel companies and agents in Laos.
“Abacus sees Laos as a very important market given its rapid growth and development into a travel hub in the Indochina region,” Abacus President and CEO Mr Robert Bailey said at the signing ceremony in Vientiane.
The joint shareholding venture will see Abacus and Lao Airlines partnering for at least 10 years, through to May 2021, with an option to renew for another five years, according to a press release.
“We are confident that our experience and commitment to this region will lend to this partnership and increase the airline's distribution significantly,” Mr Bailey said.
Lao Airlines President Dr Somphone Douangdara said the joint venture would be beneficial in helping to establish the company as an up-and-coming player in the aviation industry.
Abacus-connected travel agents will have exclusive access to Lao Airlines' database and the full range of airfares.
Content from Lao Airlines will be added to Abacus' unparalleled database of fares, services and offerings for airlines, hotels and car rental companies.
Abacus will give the airline greater access to business and leisure travellers around the world and support Lao Airlines' regional growth strategy.
“This signals Lao Airlines' growing ambitions in the travel industry - the ability to implement new cutting-edge technology and to provide a much wider choice of options for our customers,” Dr Somphone said.
The joint venture partners will also be working together on various initiatives that will include road shows and seminars to promote travel with affiliated carriers and showcase Abacus' products.
Lao Airlines Vice President Sengpraseuth Mathouchanh said Asia looks set to become the top travel region in the world in some travel categories by 2015.
After a strong showing last year, Asia is on target to take its spot as the largest region in terms of air transport, travel destinations, business travel, utilisation of ancillary revenue models and mobile usage.
“I foresee this year will continue to be a high growth year for the region, albeit at a slightly slower pace. We expect the surge in travel to continue and this partnership with Abacus will pave the way,” Mr Sengpraseuth said.
Abacus has more than 20,000 travel agency locations in 24 markets and provides travel information and reservations specifically tailored to the Asia-Pacific region.
It is owned by Sabre and a consortium of Asia's leading airlines including All Nippon Airways, Cathay Pacific, China Airlines, EVA Airways, Garuda Indonesia, Dragonair, Philippine Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Royal Brunei Airlines, SilkAir and Singapore Airlines.
Lao Airlines is an end-to-end service airline, offering year-round low fares with an extensive regional route network flying to and from Laos and centrally located airports in Indochina. It is the Lao national carrier, and has been awarded the Arch of Europe for Quality, Excellence and Technology.
vientiane times
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