J
James Spalding
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APPEARANCES
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Sep 22, 2026
Who’s Winning Airline Distribution in Travel and how OTAs build relationships
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22:28

James ClarkeHOST
And how easy then is it to sort of get into the Western distribution and what you can do over here?

James SpaldingGUEST
We built that through Ctrip and the China platform that we had that started in 1999.

James SpaldingGUEST
And then as we kind of came through the 2000s, we then acquired the trip.com brand and kind of built that from the ground up for the international traveler.

James SpaldingGUEST
So that is specifically tailored to be more localized and relevant in those local markets.

James SpaldingGUEST
rather than just a kind of a translation language and the local currency kind of put into it.

James SpaldingGUEST
Because again, like you say, the way that a customer books in one market will be different from how a customer wants to book in a different market or is used to book in a different market.
7 MINS LATER

Andy HeadingtonHOST
The customer service can obviously be delivered very well, but any plans to sort of extend some of the supply relationships you've already got using the AI in the coming 12 months?
Airline Global Conference 2026
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25:55speaker_0HOST
Yeah.

James SpaldingGUEST
Um, so from our perspective, it's making sure that we're able to kind of use AI in that scalable, uh, and efficient way, um, but at the same time make sure we're, we've got those guardrails ourselves.

James SpaldingGUEST
But also helping to kind of, uh, set a benchmark for the industry to kind of say, "Well, this is how we're using AI and a, a human kind of mix in, in all of those kind of different areas."
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29:49speaker_0HOST
Yeah.

James SpaldingGUEST
Um, but they can't capture everything.Um, and again, um, for inbound markets, that's when our kind of strength comes through.

James SpaldingGUEST
So for us, it's kind of sitting down, understanding what the airline strategy is and how can we find that solution.