by Donald Wood
Last updated: 12:05 AM ET, Tue May 5, 2020
To make business travel easier on passengers, Southwest Airlines announced Monday it now takes corporate travel bookings through industry-standard business travel booking systems.
Thanks to a partnership with Travelport, all of Southwest's low fares and booking, ticketing and functionality with business-relevant content will be available through the company's Apollo and Worldspan Global Distribution Systems.
The airline also revealed it would settle tickets booked via the new GDS processes through Airport Report Corporation (ARC), allowing business travelers to book and modify reservations with just a few clicks.
"Our new GDS capabilities allow business travel managers the ability to book, modify, and cancel Southwest travel without having to pick up the phone, and they can better track and manage their organization's travel," Southwest Executive Vice President Andrew Watterson said in a statement. "I'm thrilled we delivered these in-demand industry-standard capabilities that our business customers have desired on-time and on budget."
"While we weather the current business climate, today and every day, we're working as hard as we can to be ready for a rebound and welcome travelers back to the skies with the warmth and hospitality they've come to know and love about Southwest," Watterson continued.
The partnership between Travelport and Southwest will help corporate travel managers add a new level of service that Southwest has not been able to offer for its business travelers. The carrier also has plans to add similar capability to Amadeus' GDS by the end of 2020.
Last week, Southwest CEO Gary Kelly announced during the "Face The Nation" program on CBS that he believes it is once again safe to fly, thank in part to new procedures in cleaning and sanitizing aircraft, social distancing and requirements for all crew and passengers to wear face masks.
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