Airline Data Platform ATPCO Acquires Rich Content Provider Routehappy

The acquisition connects Routehappy's airline rich content with ATPCO's airfare data, transforming the flight shopping experience across all points of sale

DULLES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT and NEW YORK, Feb. 01, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ATPCO, the leading source for airline industry pricing and shopping data, today announced the acquisition of Routehappy, the airline industry's leading rich content provider for flight shopping. The acquisition broadens ATPCO's value to the entire airline distribution ecosystem by enabling rich content, making it a centralized platform for both airfare data and rich content.

"Airline merchandising is rapidly evolving, as rich content is more widely adopted across both NDC and traditional distribution models. As an industry, we want travelers to be able to see, and trust, the differences between flight options," said Jerry Foran, Chairman of the Board of ATPCO and Head of Product Delivery, Revenue Management at British Airways. "This acquisition is another example of how ATPCO is executing on its promise to fuel the future of airline distribution."

Founded in 2011 and based in New York with 19 full-time employees, Routehappy has more than 65 customers across the travel industry including Expedia, Google, Sabre, and United Airlines. Routehappy has paved the way for a more transparent shopping experience for flyers around the world with rich content for over 300 airlines and its APIs delivering over 10 billion queries since its inception. Routehappy's rich content has proven to increase conversion, yield and customer satisfaction for both airlines and distributors. By joining ATPCO, Routehappy's four rich content types-Scores, Amenities, UPAs (Universal Product Attributes) and UTAs (Universal Ticket Attributes)-become an industry standard to rapidly accelerate the adoption of rich content.

"Our acquisition of Routehappy drives strategic innovation, reduces complexity, and delivers network economics to the entire distribution ecosystem. Routehappy has created an offering that solves many of the challenges that airlines encounter in delivering consistent messaging, branding, and merchandising through multiple distribution channels," said ATPCO President and CEO Rolf Purzer. "By aligning Routehappy's complementary rich content with ATPCO's fare and pricing data, airlines can ensure consistent and differentiated offers for their products in every sales channel."

ATPCO works with more than 430 airlines who use its fare and pricing rules content to fuel an estimated 87% of worldwide ticket sales. Bringing together the unmatched rich content offerings of Routehappy with the unparalleled breadth of ATPCO fare data means airlines have greater ease in controlling the look and feel of their offers across all channels of sales. The move further advances ATPCO's vision of empowering smart connection of all content through all channels within the ecosystem. The deal represents ATPCO's first acquisition in its 53-year history, and redoubles its efforts to serve the needs of the next generation of air travel distribution.

"Routehappy has helped United differentiate our products and services in clear and meaningful ways," said Tye Radcliffe, United's Director of Distribution. "The tools Routehappy offers enable a more seamless shopping experience for our travel agents and customers."

According to Robert Albert, Routehappy's founder and CEO, who will continue to lead the company as a strategic business unit of ATPCO, "Routehappy was founded with the mission to differentiate and better monetize flight shopping. ATPCO is a perfect fit for our products and accelerates that mission, allowing Routehappy to become an industry standard for airline rich content for airlines, distributors and technology platforms worldwide. Our solution provides a channel, platform and delivery-agnostic solution. By combining our excellent technology and content with ATPCO's established relationships and scale, we now have a clear path to fulfilling our mission and to help the industry transform."

Routehappy will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary and strategic business unit of ATPCO. The terms of the acquisition are private.

A video announcing the acquisition can be viewed here.

About ATPCO
Uniquely positioned at the center of the airline distribution ecosystem, ATPCO is elevating the future of air travel by providing the advanced technology and valuable industry relationships that shape the way flights are sold. ATPCO manages more than 170 million fares for 430 airlines in 160 countries and supports an average of 3.9 million daily fare changes. Because ATPCO is owned by airlines, they serve as a neutral and trusted partner for airlines, travel agencies, search engines, global distribution systems, and governments worldwide. Every day, these organizations rely on ATPCO's portfolio of technology and data solutions to help millions of travelers get where they need to go. Learn more at atpco.net.

About Routehappy 
Routehappy powers rich content for flight shopping, helping airlines and distributors differentiate and better monetize their products. Routehappy's Scores & Amenities API provides flight scores and cabin amenity data, including aircraft, seat, layout, entertainment, Wi-Fi, power, fresh food and relative duration. Routehappy Hub is a cloud-based offering that helps airlines create, manage and distribute targeted product and ticket attribute content, in standardized formats UPA (Universal Product Attribute) and UTA (Universal Ticket Attribute) wherever flights are displayed. Routehappy is based in New York, serving airlines and distributors worldwide. For more information, visit www.routehappy.com. To see Routehappy rich content in action, visit www.routehappy.com/use-cases.

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A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2f198429-e3a0-47ff-a7b3-7303300f16a7

Media Contacts
For ATPCO
Michael Mazzocco, +1 703 661 7503, mmazzocco@atpco.net

For Routehappy
Jodi Echakowitz, +1 416 271 7250, jodi@boulevardpr.com
Megan Humphries, +1 917 460 6293, megan@routehappy.com