GDS System: How They Work, Why We Need Them, and How to Choose Right

For a non-expert, it would be hard to believe that travelling today could be way more challenging without Global Distribution Systems (GDS). Yet for airlines, travel agencies, tour operators, and other travel companies that have been using GDSs for over 30 years, these systems are an indispensable part of their daily operations. To understand how the travel industry moves, we need to understand how GDSs connect the world.

In recent years, GDSs have long transcended their historical role as a static repository of airline and hotel inventory and transformed into a dynamic ecosystem, drawing on the latest advances in cloud infrastructure and artificial intelligence. This article provides an extensive overview of frontier GDSs, technological shifts in the distribution landscape, and strategic guidelines on how to use the best GDS system for your travel business.

* This material was created in close collaboration with Yana Brilevskaya, Business Analyst at GP Travel Hub, who shed her expert light on the latest developments for the global distribution market.

GDS. Origins

How do regular travelers purchase their flights? Basically, there are three major options for us to grab a seat on a plane:

• We go to our chosen air company’s website and book a flight there for the date we need;
• We use air ticket aggregators like Kayak, Skyscanner, or Expedia and search through air offers there, picking the best option for the selected date;
• Or we contact a travel agent to do the work for us (or they will do it themselves if we purchase a package tour with them).

To distribute their tickets through all these options AND worldwide, it’s not enough for airlines to have a website — they need a strong tech provider and distributor who will deliver their offers to online travel agencies (OTA) around the globe. That’s when GDSs so eagerly stepped in.

Now we see the reason. But how did it all begin?

It all started back in the 1960s in the USA, when American Airlines and IBM laid the foundation for automatic flight distribution. Its then cutting-edge mainframe IBM 7090 computer was located in New York and stored all the flight information. The machine was connected to around 5,000 American Airlines’ terminals around the country. Your travel agent back then would contact the airline by phone to make a reservation for you. The system was known as the Semi-Automatic Business Research Environment, or SABRE.

Later, similar machines were popping up around the globe, with Sabre at the forefront of air distribution. In the 1970s, terminals were extended to travel agent offices to free up manpower at airlines. And the rest is history.

What Is a GDS System?

A Global Distribution System, or GDS, is an online platform exclusively for companies within the travel industry. It all started with air distribution, as we briefly mentioned above, but with time GDSs were able to connect travel agencies with other service providers such as cruise lines, hotels, car rentals, etc. If some new type of travel emerges in the future, like space travel, we bet GDSs will add it to their inventory asap.

What Key Features Does Any GDS Booking System Have?

However multilayered, a competitive GDS should have its must-have pack of salient features that contribute to effective travel management:

• Real-time availability and inventory management: One of the primary functionalities for any GDS is its ability to communicate real-time flight, hotel, and car rental availability. Thus, by connecting to a GDS, your travel company can view available seats on a plane or vacant rooms in a hotel straight away. It cuts down chances of overbooking or miscommunication between software systems to a minimum.
• Advanced search options: To offer the most attractive options to their customers, travel agencies must have access to the powerful search and filter capabilities. The ability to make comparisons based on price, class, schedule, or any other available parameter is at the heart of the effective booking engine.
• Booking consolidation: Multi-segment GDSs bring together bookings across multiple travel segments, which helps fill in the blanks in a travel itinerary from start to finish — flights, hotels, car rentals — in one place and even in one transaction. This functionality is especially appreciated by businesses that offer complex multi-segment itineraries.
• Integration with other systems: Being a tech-heavy solution, GDS systems can offer the option of seamless integration with accounting software, as well as CRM and ERP platforms.

How Does a GDS System Work?

Simply put, a GDS takes content from suppliers and makes it available to distributors (travel agencies, tour operators).

Let’s take an airline (supplier) and a travel agency (distributor) as an example. GDSs are normally connected directly to an airline’s sales system — a central reservation system — software holding information about seat availability. However, apart from seat availability, we also need to know fares and schedules, which are stored in different systems supplied by third-parties — ATPCo and Innovata/OAG respectively. It would be close to impossible for travel agents to obtain those lines of information on their own, so that’s where powerful GDSs come into play, retract that info from all necessary information systems, and share it with online travel agencies for a fee.

The GDS obtains access to this data through a contract. After that, the GDS grants the access to this data to the travel agency. For instance, as a traveler, you book your flight at an agency close to your residence home. The GDS’s job here is to ensure that all the booking details are communicated to your airline’s system instantaneously. This helps avoid overbooking or inventory discrepancies — one of the major GDS features we talked about above.

Just like in an airline example, the GDS has access to many other suppliers. If you need to fly from Atlanta to Capetown, your travel agent will access hundreds of hotel, car rental, and flight options. The GDS filters all these options to give the travel agent the best set. Using the same GDS, the travel agent then books flights and reserves cars and hotel rooms. Because of the access to this vast pool of options, end users (leisure and business travelers) have access to a far richer selection of options than if they tried to do it by themselves.

Significance for the Travel industry

GDS systems have reimagined the changing face of travel distribution by consolidating the inventory of travel service providers into a central database, which is available in real-time. As more suppliers and distributors are popping up, the need to have access to this expanding network intensifies.

When connecting to the content consolidated by GDS platforms, travel agencies and OTAs have access to a refined view of services and inventory without having to connect to multiple fragmented systems. GDS software tracks its availability, price, and rules (such as booking and cancellation policies) and opens up a favorable opportunity for travel agents to compare available options and finalize bookings for their clients.

No less important are GDSs for suppliers (airlines, hotels, and car rental companies), as they create and maintain a global multi-channel distribution network, with live updates and synchronized bookings across multiple systems. When it comes to travel services, their provider wants to maximize their visibility and resulting revenue.

GDS vs. Direct Booking Channels

First off, we need to clarify what direct bookings are. These are bookings made on airlines’  (Ryanair, Wizz Air, Lufthansa, etc.) or hotels’ (Marriot, Hyatt, or other) own websites. This option maintains a direct communication channel between a traveler and a service provider.

A GDS reservation system, on the other hand, adds scalability and breadth to the game and enables multi-segment booking options for agencies that would cover flights, hotels, cars, and even rail services — all from a single entry point. In the end, complex travel itineraries are designed through a more efficient booking process.

Are There Any Cons to GDS-Centered Distribution?

Nothing is perfect, and the partnership with a GDS comes at a certain cost.

1. Lack of valuable customer data. GDSs process bookings, so most of the information remains in the hands of middlemen, which doesn’t allow airlines or other service suppliers to track their customers and eventually adapt their preferences.
2. Limited ancillary support. Airlines receive a very thin margin in the sale of their core services. The main source of profits is ancillaries — seat selection, baggage upgrades, priority boarding, on-board meal plans, etc. Yet, GDS APIs usually transport only limited ancillaries to OTAs.
3. No full control of their marketing strategy and no choice of a distribution channel. Offers are basically built within GDSs, when you cannot clearly see the market dynamics and traveler behavior to adapt.

How to Get a GDS System

Your travel business can gain access to GDSs in several ways:

• Direct partnership with a GDS travel system: Large travel businesses often opt to enter into a direct agreement with GDSs. This model of cooperation is far from being easy, as, apart from higher costs, OTAs and travel agencies should take care of contract negotiations, commission structure agreements, and adherence to the provider’s technical and legal requirements.
• Through third-party solutions: If you operate on a smaller scale, then your most probable choice would be to work with GDS content via third-party tech provider with integrated GDS functionality. This option comes with adjustable pricing and reduced costs.

Requirements: For the proper use of a GDS system and the content that comes with it, agencies need booking terminals and internet connectivity (technical infrastructure) and go through special training. In addition, they must attain IATA or ARC certifications if they plan to access and manage air bookings.

How Much Does a GDS System Cost?

The cost structure of using a GDS system is complex and involves several components:

• Setup and integration costs: A GDS reservation system normally charges a fee when agencies proceed to the initial setup and integration into its platform. The final price tag will depend on the integration complexity and can be anything from $10,000 to $50,000.
• Commission structure: GDS systems earn their money with commissions and transaction fees. When, for instance, you as a travel business book a flight via GDS, the airline will pay a commission to the GDS, which can vary from $3 to $12 per booking.
• Ongoing subscription or licensing fees: $200 to $1,000 per month is a fee your travel agency would pay for the access to the GDS content. The payment may be year- or month-based and depends on the size of the travel agency and the amount of transactions.

The final pricing is dependent on several factors such as your agency’s size, which services you access, and the booking volume.

What Are the Alternatives?

If the above methods are a no-go for you, but you still need access to travel services and products, you can consider several alternative ways:

• Third-party travel APIs;
• Travel aggregators like Expedia or Skyscanner allow you to connect via a commission-based model;
• Affiliate programs, when large booking platforms offer options to earn commissions if you book their services for your customers;
• Direct partnership with suppliers;
• White-label travel solutions or custom booking engines.

What Are the Major GDS Systems? Comparison of Amadeus, Sabre, and Travelport

The competitive landscape is still dominated by the “Big Three” — Amadeus, Sabre, and Travelport — who jointly control around 97% of the indirect booking market. However, their strategies have split sharply in 2025. Amadeus has cemented its position in Europe and Asia with its Cloud Planet migration with Microsoft Azure. Sabre has solidified its lead in the Americas by migrating 90% of its workloads to Google Cloud, which has allowed it to launch its SabreMosaic AI platform. Travelport continues to aggressively position itself as the champion of modern retailing for agencies with its focus on aggregating fragmented NDC content.

To get a better view of complex processes and functionalities GDSs can offer, let’s explore the key differences among the three dominant GDS players.

Pros and Cons of Each GDS

Nothing is perfect, however elaborately it may be designed. We have compiled a brief summary of the strong and weak sides for each of the major GDS.

How to Choose a GDS System?

Which partner will be the best GDS system for your particular travel company largely depends on several parameters:

• Business size
• Type of services you offer
• Target market

We’ve compiled a breakdown guide to make your path towards the right choice a bit easier.

Business Size

• Large agencies: World-scale distributors (Sabre, Amadeus, or Travelport) are a frequent choice for large OTAs. They boast wide global reach, expansive networks, multiple booking management tools, ERP and CRM integrations, and, of course, fully-fledged booking opportunities. The number of bookings via a large agency’s environment allows it to absorb higher transaction fees and initial setup spendings.
• Small agencies: Services of a major GDS may challenge a smaller agency’s or a startup’s budget. To get the most of GDS data and not to overpay for it, such businesses resort to third-party solutions that have already integrated GDS services. Overhead costs are considerably lower for such scenarios. For instance, Travelport, may be a source of flexible options for smaller-scale companies.

Type of Travel Services Offered

• Air-focused services: If you are the one into air travel, your practical choices would be Amadeus and Sabre. No other GDS is more dominant in the air travel sector than these two.
• Multi-segment services: Need air, car, and hotel content in one place? Consider Travelport with its particular emphasis on parallel bookings for multiple segments.
• Niche services: First of all, what are niche markets? In travel, these can be rail travel services, corporate travel, or luxury tours. The choice for you here largely depends on the budget you are ready to spend. Available options can be found on the Amadeus or Travelport platforms that have been developing tools for these segments.

Geographic Region

The market power of GDS systems is not uniformly distributed throughout the world.

• North America is Sabre’s strategic stronghold. The GDS has a global market share of about 30–35%, but a disproportionately higher one in the US and Canadian agency markets. The region is known for high rates of corporate booking tool adoption and advanced agency workflows. In 2025, Sabre’s expansion in this region is partly attributed to the acquisition of major agency business, for example, the account of World Travel, Inc., displacing competitor Travelport.
• Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) remain the fortress of Amadeus. Headquartered in Madrid, Amadeus has a global market share of nearly 40% and is the backbone for most of the European national carriers. The European market in 2025 is greatly shaped by the regulatory push for sustainability, as well as by the commercial pressure for NDC adoption from companies such as Lufthansa and Air France-KLM. How effectively Amadeus can integrate such fragmented content streams lies at the core of its prominence in the region.
• Asia-Pacific (APAC) has emerged as the most dynamic new frontier of growth. Amadeus has identified an Asia Uplift as one of the crucial trends for 2025, with notable increases in booking volume in new destinations such as Azerbaijan (26% increase) and Kazakhstan. The region is experiencing a revival in outbound travel from China and India, markets where GDS providers need to adapt to local payment ecosystems and mobile-first booking behaviors. The growth in this region is also contributing to the adoption of cloud-based systems.

Travelport does business in multiple regions and can be characterized as a balanced global player​.

The Tech Revolution: What’s Next for GDSs?

The financial contours of the Global Distribution System sector show a market that is in the midst of a significant upcycle. While the market size was valued at USD 6.7 billion in 2024, the aggressive integration of AI and cloud technologies multiplies value, providing the grounds to project the market size at USD 16 billion by the end of the decade.

This steady growth is supported by three structural drivers:

• Volume: The growing travel and tourism industry, contributing more than 11% to global GDP, as a base volume growth.
• Globalization: The need for standardized and compliant travel management platforms that can function across borders.
• Tech overhaul: In 2024 alone, more than USD 850 million has been invested in technological upgrades by GDS providers, specifically focusing on API-based integrations and predictive analytics.

The ability to provide value by a GDS is no longer defined by its network size but by the agility of its software to adapt to the rapid innovations and the latest tech trends in the sector and the top management — to see a greater picture behind such developments:

It Always Depends

Even though airlines, hotels, and other local service providers seek to avoid third parties and distribute their product directly, they will look for a reliable booking platform with the richest selection of options. Victory in the competition will go to the one that can book faster and better for their end customers — travelers.

At the moment, connecting to GDS content is one of the wisest choices for many travel agencies. Yet, the choice strongly depends on your particular business, so tread with caution. Or you can always resort to GP Solutions for tech consulting and implementation.