Amadeus e-Travel wins eight awards at the 2006 W³ Awards

Amadeus e-Travel scoops eight silver awards from a pool of over 2,300 entrants, including an unprecedented four awards in the travel category

• Amadeus e-Travel and partner airlines recognised for their creative excellence and high quality user experience
  
  Madrid, 04 December 2006: Amadeus, global technology partner to the travel and tourism industry has received four silver awards in the travel category of this year’s W³ Awards, the highest number of awards ever seen in this category, and four silver awards in the ‘best of structure and navigation’ category. Judges selected Finnair.com, Qantas.com, Icelandair.com and Air Canada.com as winners, demonstrating Amadeus’ ability to work successfully with airlines to deliver creative excellence to online end users.
  
  The W³ Awards seek to honour creative excellence on the Web and are judged by a panel of leading experts drawn from organisations such as Yahoo!, MTV and Wired. The awards are organised by the International Academy of the Visual Arts, a membership-based organisation dedicated to evolving the nature of traditional and interactive media.
  
  On receiving the award, Tom Källström, VP e-Business Development, Finnair, said:
  
  “Finnair’s customers increasingly find the most enjoyable and comprehensive experience on Finnair.com, which now provides merchandising, booking, and servicing capabilities. I am delighted by this industry award, which also reflects the superb expertise and dedication of the Amadeus e-Travel Web Design Service teams.”
  
  Jérôme Destors, Commercial Director, Amadeus e-Travel, commented: “These awards acknowledge the success of Amadeus’ leading technology inspired by Web 2.0 and its creative application by airlines throughout the world. These awards also recognise that outsourcing not only the e-commerce engine, but also the full user experience to Amadeus is the best way forward to reduce costs and achieve the highest quality experience online.”
  
  Currently, over 70 of the world’s leading airlines use the Amadeus e-Travel Airline Suite to power over 250 websites in more than 80 markets. Amadeus e-Travel customers include Air Canada, Air France, BMI, Lufthansa, Finnair, Iberia, Qantas, and Singapore Airlines.
  
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  Note to the editor:
  
  Amadeus
  A world-leading technology and distribution solutions provider, Amadeus delivers unparalleled expertise to the travel and tourism industry, including leading-edge solutions that cover airlines’ unique business needs, independent of their size, business model or market reach.
  
  Amadeus’ pioneering new-generation Customer Management Solution (CMS) portfolio, Amadeus Altéa CMS, serves network and regional carriers. The Altéa portfolio, based on a pioneering community platform concept, enables improved operational efficiency and increases revenue. The portfolio consists of the Altéa Reservation, Altéa Inventory and Altéa Departure Control solutions.
  
  Low Cost Carriers also have a specific CMS for LCCs - based on adaptive technology and already used by carriers in Europe and the USA - that provides robust options that easily adjust to their evolving operational requirements.
  
  Further complementing these integrated IT solutions is the Amadeus e-Travel Airline Suite. Over 70 of the world’s leading airlines use the Amadeus e-Travel Airline Suite to power over 250 websites in more than 80 markets.
  
  Other standalone IT solutions include amongst others; Amadeus Revenue Integrity, Amadeus Ticket Changer, an automatic ticket reissue tool, and a full range of ticketing solutions; including e-ticket interlining and ground-handling management technology services.
  
  More information about Amadeus’ solutions for airlines is available at: www.amadeus.com/airlines.
  
  About Finnair
  Finnair, the national carrier of Finland and one of the world's longest established airlines, has a route network that covers over 50 international destinations and 16 destinations within Finland. The airline also owns 95 per cent of the Amadeus Commercial Organisation (ACO), which is the local distributor of the its products and services to the travel agency community in the Finnish market.
  
  More information is available at: www.finnair.com