Amadeus, Europe's number one travel company in R&D investment

Madrid, 13 November, 2006: Amadeus, a global leader in technology and distribution solutions for the travel industry, invests more in research and development than any other European company in the travel and leisure industry, according to the European Commission's Top 1000 Ranking of European companies investing in Research and Development in 2005.

Amadeus' R&D investment in 2005 was €182,19 million, up from €153 million, or 18.9%, in 2004. In total, the company invests EUR 300 million each year in technology.

Overall, Amadeus ranks 87th out of the 1,000 European companies that appear in the list, two positions higher than in last year's report. Among Spanish companies in all industries, Amadeus is the second-largest investor in R&D, after Telefónica.

Amadeus has six Development centres around the world. Its main site is located in Sophia-Antipolis (France), with the remaining five in London, Sydney, Frankfurt, Antwerp and Miami. The Operation & Data centre in Erding (Germany) is one of the largest civilian data centres in Europe.

Jean-Paul Hamon, Executive Vice President Development of Amadeus, explains, "Our firm commitment to research and development helps our customers to stay at the forefront of the travel industry. Increasingly, we are investing in open technology, which will allows us to bring more solutions to the market, more quickly. This means we can respond more rapidly to the changing needs of our customers as the industry continues to evolve."


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Notes to the editors:

The "2006 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard" can be accessed at http://iri.jrc.es

About Amadeus
Amadeus is the chosen technology partner for providers, sellers, and buyers of travel. The company provides distribution, IT and point-of-sale solutions to help its customers adapt, grow and succeed in the fast-changing travel industry. Customer groups include travel providers (airlines, hotels, car rental companies, railway companies, ferry lines, cruise lines, insurance companies and tour operators), travel sellers (travel agencies) and travel buyers (corporations and travellers). Solutions are grouped in four solution categories – Distribution & Content, Sales & e-Commerce, Business Management and Services & Consulting.

Amadeus has central sites in Madrid (corporate headquarters & marketing), Nice (development) and Erding (Operations – data processing centre) and regional offices in Miami, Buenos Aires and Bangkok. At market level, Amadeus maintains customer operations in 75 countries covering more than 215 markets. The company has nearly 6,700 employees worldwide, representing 95 nationalities. More information about Amadeus is available at: www.amadeus.com


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