Internet technology and web based commerce have dramatically transformed the airline industry in the last ten years. As travelers embraced the Internet, this enabled airlines to bypass the traditional distribution pattern through travel agencies and sell direct to end consumers. Web distribution combined with cheaper and more flexible technologies allowed new players on the market, low cost airlines (LCCs), to implement effective low-cost direct distribution strategies and intensify competition in the sector. Airline distribution has for many years been synonymous to Central Reservation Systems (CRSs), later termed Global Distribution Systems (GDSs). GDSs have served as the nexus of electronic commerce in travel for decades, providing virtual real-time connectivity between thousands of suppliers of travel inventory (airlines, hotels, car rental, tour operators, cruise lines, etc.) and hundreds of thousands of retail sellers of travel products. GDSs progressively consolidated their position to only four major systems, namely Sabre, Amadeus, Galileo and Wordspan.
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The North Trip 