Air specialist Global Marine Travel racks up more clients

This month the Fort Lauderdale-based company signed a deal with Swan Hellenic to provide a fully outsourced air/sea program for their North American client base. This follows an agreement with Atlas Ocean Voyages, which includes air travel for every passenger as part of its all-inclusive cruise product.

20th year

GMT, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, manages air/sea programs for several other small cruise lines trading from North America and specializes in fully outsourced air/sea programs for start-ups as well as established lines that choose to leave the complexity of air arrangements with a trusted expert. 

'For a cruise line to invest in setting up IATA accreditation, contract with a GDS, acquire bonds and then apply to each airline for the relevant air/sea fares, is a time-consuming and expensive proposition,' said Tim Davey, GMT founder and managing director. 'Then, recruiting, hiring and training staff to manage the program up to a year prior to the first sailing can create a substantial strain on a new venture. GMT can provide this service in a turnkey fashion for a very reasonable fee with no up-front costs.'

Full programs or ancillary services

GMT has operated air/sea programs for a number of cruise lines throughout its history, in some cases as fully outsourced, or for ancillary services such as after-hours and concierge desk programs for custom air planning. With a full portfolio of air/sea fare content and adaptable technology that easily connects to most cruise reservation systems, GMT provides the ability for reservations agents to sell bespoke air as part of the cruise package with confidence.

This is all backed up by North American and UK-based customer service agents 24/7/365.

Supporting cruising's resumption

As the cruise industry rebounds from the massive reductions imposed by COVID-19, there is the expectation that lines may wish to return to business in a leaner stance. GMT provides them this option, Davey said.

Part of the V.Ships group of companies, GMT has offices in the US, Canada, Philippines, UK, India and Monaco, although air/sea services are strategically managed from GMT headquarters in Fort Lauderdale with a dedicated call center staffed by cruise industry veterans.