BARCELONA - Air Astana, the major air carrier of Kazakhstan is seeking injunctive relief from courts in Spain to require Amadeus GDS to reconnect its services whilst a dispute over contract terms goes to arbitration.
Air Astana believes the action taken by Amadeus at 10.30 CET Friday, 21 January 2011 was against the contractual and Spanish common law principles. It also considers that Amadeus' behaviour during the negotiations for a new contract and in terminating the current Participating Carrier Agreement has been coercive.
Air Astana claims that by cancelling the agreement with 15 days notice Amadeus has sought to take advantage of the lack of immediate alternative for distribution in many markets to pressure Air Astana to accept a new agreement on Amadeus’ terms, and in doing so has shown a complete disregard of consumers' rights and interests.
Air Astana has copies of all reservations made on the Amadeus GDS in its own reservations system and should passengers or Agents need to adjust existing bookings, they can do so by calling Air Astana Call Centres.
The distribution contract in place between Amadeus and Air Astana was cancelled after Amadeus alleged a breach of the terms of the agreement. Air Astana strongly refutes the alleged breach, filed immediately for arbitration, and requested the termination be rescinded in accordance with the terms of the contract between the parties. When Amadeus refused, Air Astana filed for injunctive relief.
Given the nature of the termination and the behaviour of Amadeus during the negotiations, Air Astana has not ruled out the possibility of further legal action.
Air Astana is a joint venture between Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna (51%) and BAE Systems PLC (49%). It operates 22 aircraft on 24 domestic and 27 international routes.