2013年公共英语一级考试口语指导（4）

The search is on

搜索在继续

Hoping to solve these problems, the airlines’ international association, IATA, is working on a grandly titled "new distribution capability". One of its main elements will be a common technical standard for direct-connect services. The GDSs could make use of such services, so as to sell the airlines’ full range of extras as well as just flights. But perhaps of more interest to the airlines is that it would become easier for travel agents to build computer systems that deal directly with airlines. It would also become easier for search engines to scour the web for flights, assemble a list of options for travellers, then let them click through to the website of their chosen airline to complete the booking—again without a GDS’s involvement.

为了解决这些问题，航空公司国际组织：国际航空运输协会, 正致力于一个名为"新分销能力"的宏大项目。它的主旨之一是为直接联系服务建立一个共同技术标准。全球分销系统也可以利用这些服务，从而为航空公司销售各类附加服务，或者仅仅只是提供订票服务。但，也许航空公司更感兴趣的是，它使得旅行社建立电脑系统和航空公司相连变得容易了许多。同时，也使得搜索引擎可以更加容易地搜索网页上的航班信息，形成列表提供给旅客，旅客们可以通过在网站上点击经它们筛选过的航班完成预定—在这过程中，没有GDS的参与。

Such a service is already offered by Google (which has bought ITA, an airline-software firm, and Frommer’s, a guidebook publisher, as part of its push into the travel business). The airlines hope that common technical standards will also encourage the creation of lots of innovative new travel-search firms. Adam Wood, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, is sceptical: it would be hugely expensive for any new entrant to replicate the existing GDSs’ heavy spending on technology: the need for such investment makes flight distribution a business that naturally tends towards an oligopoly, he reckons.

谷歌现已提供此类服务(Google购买了已经购买了航空软件公司ITA和指南出版商Frommer，作为进军旅游业务的一部分)。航空公司希望共同技术标准也将促进更多的新型旅行搜索公司的诞生。摩根士丹利的分析师亚当•伍德对此表示怀疑：任何新晋企业想要复制全球分销系统，都要在技术上投入大量资金。对投资的需求会使得航班分销生意趋于寡头垄断，他做出如上预测。

IATA hopes to have its new technical standards agreed by the end of the year-though as a rule, getting airlines to agree on such things is tricky. Then there would be the problem of implementation; the industry, like every other, has seen ambitious IT projects fail disastrously. Suppose that IATA does persuade hundreds of airlines to agree on the new technical standards, and successfully build computer systems that run on them. Even then, admits Gary Doernhoefer, an IATA official, the GDSs’ grip on the industry may not change much without regulatory action to unpick their cosy agreements with travel agents.

国际航空运输协会希望今年底可以通过新的技术标准。尽管这是条规则，但想获得航空公司的同意却有些棘手。随后还要面临着实施这条规则的问题：航空行业和其他行业一样，都曾经历过大型IT项目惨败的结局。假设国际航空运输协会说服了数百家航空公司同意新的技术标准，并成功地建立了运行的电脑系统。即使这样，如若不消除航空公司和旅行社之间联系紧密的协议, 全球分销系统对整个行业的控制可能也不会发生太大的变化，国际航空运输协会官员加里承认道。

Regulators are indeed looking into the issue. An investigation into the GDSs by America’s Department of Justice is quietly ticking over, and the European Commission is reviewing its code of conduct for them. Meanwhile, two of America’s big carriers have taken GDSs to court over the tactics they use to maintain their hold over travel agents. American Airlines’ case against Sabre is due to begin in a Texas state court in October. AA has also filed suits in federal courts against Sabre and Travelport (which owns Galileo and Worldspan and part-owns Orbitz, an online travel agency), as has US Airways against Sabre.

监管机构确实在调查这方面的问题。美国司法部正在调查全球分销系统，欧洲委员会也在审查他们的行为准则。同时，美国两大航空公司已经将GDS告上法庭，控告他们使用不正当手法控制旅行社。美国航空公司对Sabre的这场官司将于10月在得克萨斯州法开庭。美国航空还在联邦法院对Sabre和Travelport(拥有Galileo和Worldspan，和部分线上旅行社Orbitz的股份)提起诉讼，

The GDSs, meanwhile, are lobbying America’s Department of Transportation to force airlines to include "core" extras (such as bag fees and check-in charges) in the fares they quote to the GDSs, to make for fairer comparisons with carriers that offer all-inclusive fares. Cory Garner, a senior executive at AA, says that in principle his airline is more than happy to provide such information, but its main worry is that the lobbying will prompt the government to lay down overly prescriptive rules on how it is provided. IATA and other airline associations fear a worse outcome: that they may be banned from offering any exclusive fares or promotions to agents which book directly rather than through a GDS. The department is expected to announce any rule changes in November.

与此同时，GDS游说美国运输部强制航空公司在给 GDS的费用中加上"核心"费用(如行李费和检查费)，这可以更加公平地对比航空公司之间的完全报价。美国航空高级管理人员科里•加纳表示：原则上，他所在的航空公司很乐意提供这样的信息，但仍有疑虑，游说组织将促使政府下达过于规定性的条约：规定怎么提供这些方式。国际航空运输协会和航空公司担心更坏的结果：旅客直接订票而不是通过GDS来订票，它们可能会被禁止向代理结构提供任何额外的费用或者增额。运输部预计在11月份宣布变化的条规。

Both sides can claim to be the consumer’s champion. The airlines argue that the cost of the middlemen adds to the price of tickets (though the superficial evidence suggests that it is airline shareholders who suffer). They say they want to reform the distribution system to offer flyers a wider choice and a more individually tailored service. The GDSs argue that they provide travellers, through their agents, with impartial comparisons of all available flights, allowing them to get the best value.

双方都宣称选择自己是消费者的胜利。航空公司认为，中间商的成本增加了机票的价格(虽然从表面上看吃亏的是航空公司的股东)。他们表示想要改革分配制度，给旅客提供更广泛的选择和更个性化的服务。GDS表示通过他们的代理人，提供给旅客所有航班的之间公平的比较，使得旅客能够获得最好的价值。

Svend Leirvaag, an executive at Amadeus, argues that it’s a pity the airlines fixate so much on GDS fees, which at around 2% of their revenues are much less than the money the industry could save by fighting such things as ever-increasing travel taxes and the unfair subsidies that prop up some state-owned carriers. The airlines are lobbying for these things too, but they would still like to cut the cost of the middlemen.

艾玛迪斯的主管斯文拉瓦格(音译Leirvaag)表示很遗憾：航空公司总是盯着GDS费用不放，但是这些费用只占航空公司总收入的2%，它们可以通过减少不断增长的航空税和不不公平的补贴来节省钱，这都比给GDS的钱要多得多。那些不公平的补贴支持了一些国有的航空公司。航空公司也在为这些而游说，但是他们仍然专注于减少在中间商身上的开销。