A pick-me-up for travellers thanks to Blacklane and Amadeus

Blacklane and Amadeus partner to deliver the first true door-to-door travel experience for all points of sale

**5 March, 2015: ** Blacklane’s global professional driver service will soon be available in all Amadeus channels, as the first fully integrated provider in the Amadeus Taxi & Transfer solution.

Blacklane and Amadeus are meeting the needs of travellers and the demands of the modern travel industry alike. Travellers desire high-quality, reliable ground transportation services to be smoothly integrated in their trips, while travel agents, TMCs, and airlines require new travel services to grow revenue.

Blacklane provides pre-booked rides with professional drivers at fixed prices in over 50 countries around the world. Travellers will be able to book transfers to and from airports, hotels and other destinations just as they book flights, hotel accommodation or car rental today. The Amadeus Taxi & Transfer solution is user-friendly and will be simple for airlines and travel agencies to implement, providing a choice of quality content to serve their customers.

Furthermore, Amadeus’ presence throughout the travel chain enables the service to be fully integrated with the traveller’s Passenger Name Record (PNR) and the agency’s back-office: a unique benefit which sets the Amadeus Taxi & Transfer solution apart from others in the market.

The solution will be implemented across all points of sale in three phases:

• It will first be available for online travel agencies by June this year.

• The second delivery will be in the fourth quarter of this year, as a solution for airlines’ websites.

• In the third phase, the solution will be available in all Amadeus channels, including corporate self-booking tool Amadeus e-Travel Management and travel agencies’ point of sale Amadeus Selling Platform.

Jens Wohltorf, CEO of Blacklane, says: “Ground transportation is the last missing piece of travel reservations. Integrating Blacklane into the largest Global Distribution System worldwide gives travellers new convenience to experience a professional driver service around the world. We look forward to changing the entire travel ecosystem together with Amadeus.”

Peter Altmann, Head of Amadeus Cars and Transfers, comments: “This agreement represents a landmark for the industry. Building on the launch of our solution last year, our innovative Amadeus Taxi & Transfer solution will close the first and last mile for travellers whether booking with a travel agency or an airline. Blacklane’s global presence makes it the perfect partner as we continue to give more choices to our customers and to travellers.”

Peter continues: “Blacklane and Amadeus are leading the development of global standards on how ground transportation should be integrated in a travel package. We look forward to working with the rest of the industry in order to make the sale of transfer solutions simple for all travel players.”

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**Notes to the editors ** Blacklane

Blacklane conveniently connects passengers with the spare capacities of licensed, regulated and insured professional drivers. Corporate and individual customers can book and schedule rides in over 50 countries around the world. Blacklane guarantees low and all-inclusive fixed rates at the time of the booking with a unique pricing and dispatching algorithm. The company provides a consistently high global standard by combining multi-lingual 24/7 customer care with real-time service control for tens of thousands of quality cars.

Amadeus

Amadeus is a leading provider of advanced technology solutions for the global travel industry. Customer groups include travel providers (e.g. airlines, hotels, rail, ferry operators, and car rental companies etc.), travel sellers (travel agencies and websites), and travel buyers (corporations and travel management companies).

The Amadeus group employs around 10,000 people worldwide, across central sites in Madrid (corporate headquarters), Nice (development) and Erding (operations), as well as 71 local Amadeus Commercial Organisations globally.

The group operates a transaction-based business model. For the year ended December 31, 2014 the company reported revenues of €3,417.7 million and EBITDA of €1,306.0 million.

Amadeus is listed on the Spanish Stock Exchange under the symbol "AMS.MC" and is a component of the IBEX 35 index.

To find out more about Amadeus please visit www.amadeus.com, and www.amadeus.com/blog for more on the travel industry.

**Media enquiries: ** Adam Parken Tel: +49 30 2016 3016 Mob: +49 159 0414 6420 and +1 919 277 8551 adam.parken@blacklane.com

Laura Cobbold Tel: +34 911 771 464 Mob: +34 609 141 695 laura.cobbold@amadeus.com