Brussels, 25/09/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has given its clearance for the acquisition of sole control over the American company for the online sale and reservation of holidays, Galileo International Inc, by Cendant Corp, another American company specialised in travel and residential real estate services. The inquiry provided proof that there was no overlapping of activity between the two companies.
The Commission also sought to identify the risk that Cendant's car rental business Avis could achieve a dominant position in Europe by being given preferential access to Galileo's Global Distribution System (GDS) through its namesake Computer Reservation System. It concluded that Galileo would not be able to give systematic preference to Avis Europe, as 65% to 70% of corporate car rental reservations are not made through GDS, and that 30% to 35% of corporate bookings are made through exclusive or preferential contracts between corporate customers and car rental companies. Finally, the number of reservations made through Galileo is relatively small. Given all these elements, the Commission informed the parties that there was no reason to accept the commitments that had been submitted to it, and therefore authorised the operation.