Microsoft, Amadeus form strategic partnership to reimagine travel industry

The Microsoft-Amadeus collaboration will innovate to create more seamless travel experiences by enabling faster delivery of new, custom cloud-based solutions. Initial efforts are likely to focus on establishing more integrated business travel journeys and enabling closer collaboration between travel and health authorities.

Tech giant Microsoft and Amadeus, a Spanish IT provider for the global travel and tourism industry, have formed a global strategic partnership to innovate and explore new products/solutions and create smoother travel experiences in the future using cloud technology, the companies announced on Friday.

Commenting on the partnership, Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft, said, "Advances in digital technology are rapidly redefining every aspect of work and life, including how we travel. Together with Amadeus, we will apply the power of Azure and its AI capabilities to create new frictionless experiences for travellers worldwide and reimagine the travel industry going forward."

Combining Microsoft's secure cloud platforms, industry-leading collaboration and enterprise technologies with Amadeus' proven expertise and innovation in travel technology, the collaboration will focus on three key areas:

• Foster collaboration across the entire travel industry
• Focus on joint innovation and product development
• Accelerate the move of Amadeus technical platform to the public cloud

The Microsoft-Amadeus collaboration will innovate to create more seamless travel experiences by enabling faster delivery of new, custom cloud-based solutions. Initial efforts are likely to focus on establishing more integrated business travel journeys and enabling closer collaboration between travel and health authorities.

"From our long experience with cloud technology, we are convinced it is the right systems architecture to deliver on this continued commitment, and that Microsoft is the right partner to help us achieve our goals together. This includes the opportunity to explore, design and develop new solutions that take full advantage of cloud technology," said Luis Maroto, CEO of Amadeus.

Further, the transition to the public cloud will help Amadeus achieve increased flexibility to scale its operational capacity up or down or to adjust it according to market and demand conditions. With this move, the Spanish company also expects to improve the resiliency of its solutions and services to customers, and to make a step-change in the delivery of new technologies, whilst increasing the security of systems and data.