South Africa’s first low fare carrier becomes a full participant in Travelport GDS channel 

Travelport, the business services provider to the global travel industry, has announced a new full content agreement with kulula.com, South Africa’s first low fare carrier. Through the new global agreement, Galileo connected travel agencies in Southern Africa will have full access to all kulula.com fares, including promotional fares.  Under the new agreement, the low fare airline has also opted for a higher participation level in the Travelport GDS channel with enhanced functionality, such as IATA ticketing which will also become available to Travelport connected travel agents.

In 2001, kulula.com became South Africa’s first low fare carrier with pioneering, ambitious plans to make flying affordable for everyone. The airline now operates 370 flights a week across 6 routes.

Travelport, meanwhile, announced only last month the acquisition of its Galileo distribution business in Southern Africa and news of a new strategic Travelport hub for Africa located in Johannesburg.  The recent investment, forming part of Travelport ongoing strategy to grow its network and operations across the African continent, in turn follows the entry into ten new African countries over the last 12 months.

Commenting on the new agreement, Brian Kitchin, Executive Manager Sales and Distribution for kulula.com said: “We are delighted to expand our partnership with Travelport through this full content agreement, and look forward to continue building on our existing relationship with our collective customers in the trade. Travelport is clearly committed to growing its operations in Southern Africa and also has an extensive global distribution network making them a highly efficient partner for distributing our airfares to the travel industry.”

“This deal is good news for travel agency customers globally, who need guaranteed access to kulula.com’s full inventory.  It’s also great that kulula.com has opted for a higher level of GDS participation, resulting in enhanced seamless functionality.  It demonstrates the value they see in distributing their fares through the GDS channel, and, for us, it is very much aligned to our strategy of aggregating rich travel content for our users,” said Will Owen Hughes, Senior Director Airline Services at Travelport.