ATPCO, the airline-owned company that collects and distributes fares and related data, acquired Routehappy, a six-year-old company that provides flight scores, cabin amenity data and other merchandising tools.

The Routehappy acquisition is “a match made in heaven,” Purzer says, a “happy coincidence between planning and good timing.”

“It was a gap we needed to fill. We want to enter into the retailing mindset with a good product. We want to be more modern and agile.”

Albert agrees. From Routehappy’s beginnings, he envisioned the creation of new technical standards that would benefit the whole industry.

“By uniting with ATPCO — the “standard setter” in the air fare ecosystem – “we can make it happen overnight.”