When I moved from the ticket counter at DSB Travel to handling overseas and government travel, it felt like entering the future. One phone per person. Direct access to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Bookings ranging from domestic rail to round-the-world trips for ministers and senior officials.

At the time, it was cutting-edge.

From ResAid to GDS – When Technology Becomes Infrastructure

SAS’ ResAid was arguably the most user-friendly airline reservation system ever built. Sabre was more powerful but less intuitive. In the mid-1980s, Lufthansa and Air France co-founded Amadeus based partly on ResAid. British Airways followed with Galileo.

Airlines owned, funded, and developed these systems. The commercial model was simple: a fee per segment. Around USD 3 per passenger.

Forty years later, the fee is closer to EUR 5—despite collapsing IT and hardware costs. The question is not how this happened, but why it was never seriously challenged.

Ownership Changes, Structure Doesn’t

In the 1990s, GDS platforms were sold to private equity. Commission disappeared. Aviation was deregulated. The internet arrived. Low-cost carriers deliberately built outside the GDS ecosystem.

Yet in 2025, we still have three global GDS players. Amadeus is the dominant one—and notably has never been sold on, a clear indicator of exceptional profitability.

The Numbers Few Discuss

• Ryanair (197m passengers, 2024):
  Distribution + marketing ≈ USD 5 per passenger
• American Airlines (249m passengers, 2024):
  ≈ USD 10 per passenger
  → roughly USD 1.25 billion annually

Amazon spends about USD 0.10 per transaction.

In China, airlines pay roughly USD 1 per passenger through Travelsky.

The shareholder question is obvious.

NDC and the Illusion of Change

NDC was presented as a revolution. In reality, it became an additional layer on top of the legacy stack—often re-intermediated rather than simplified.

IATA forms task forces. Progress is slow. Airlines lack the internal IT muscle after decades of outsourcing core systems. And fear of change in a 24/7 industry paralyzes decision-making.

The paradox is striking:
Operational excellence trapped in technological inertia.

The Outcome

• Persistently high distribution costs
• Middlemen sustained by complexity
• Corporate travel agencies averaging one transaction per hour
• Costs borne by companies, governments, and travelers

The system works.
That is precisely why it survives.

But working is not the same as being right.

Let’s move mountains in 2026.