Travelport reports positive start to the year as non-air revenue growth hits 23%

Growth in non-air revenue outstripped first quarter increase in core air revenue, Travelport has revealed in a trading update today.

Growth in non-air revenue outstripped first quarter increase in core air revenue, Travelport has revealed in a trading update today.

The leading UK Global Distribution System and technology provider said the year had started positively, allowing it to reaffirm its full year profit guidance.

Net revenue was of $609 million, up 6%, and operating income of $80 million helped the firm achieve adjusted EBITDA up 12%.

Travelport’s Travel Commerce Platform revenue was up 7% and RevPas (Revenue per Available Segment) up 12% to $6.43 with over half of the increase driven by air.

Revenues from air bookings were up 3% to $444 million, however non-air jumped 23% to $135 million and now represents 23% of Travel Commerce Platform revenues, up from 20%.

Travelport said it has seen “strong revenue growth from certain higher value International regions, including Europe, Latin America and Canada (18%) and Asia Pacific (up 9%).

The firm said its international air segment growth wasa above overall international GDS air segment growth.

Gordon Wilson, president and chief executive of Travelport, said: “Travelport has delivered a positive start to the year which builds on the momentum we established in 2015.

“We continued to drive our leadership positions in airline merchandising, hospitality, B2B payments and mobile commerce, leading to particularly strong International revenue growth, notably in Europe, Latin America and Canada and Asia Pacific.

“Air revenue benefited from our geographical mix as well the further adoption and penetration of our merchandising solutions – now implemented with around 160 airlines.

“We continue to grow Beyond Air, up by 23% in the quarter, with good growth again in hospitality, particularly in the United States, Latin America and Canada.

“Moreover MTT, our mobile commerce subsidiary, announced a number of new customer wins, and our payments business, eNett, grew its revenue by 76% as it cleared its backlog of customer implementations from last year and also gained more share of business with existing clients.

“These results show our progress in delivering continued top and bottom line growth and we re-affirm our full year guidance.”