Teaneck – October 27, 2026 -- Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) and Travelport have launched the next phase of their 20-year partnership, with the stated goal of making Travelport the first AI-native platform in global travel retailing. Cognizant teams will work with Travelport across 18 countries.
Cognizant and Travelport complete first modernization phase begun in May 2026
The two companies announced their AI transformation in May 2026 alongside Anthropic. They have since built the platforms, architecture and engineering practices needed for AI-enabled delivery. AI tooling is now entering the software development lifecycle, covering code generation, test creation and pull-request review. Further workflow automation opportunities have been identified.
The initial engineering focus is Travelport Trip Services, which handles bookings, exchanges, refunds and servicing worldwide. The companies intend the gains in engineering speed and quality to accelerate delivery of new AI capabilities to Travelport customers.
Partnership spans three workstreams delivered through Cognizant's AI Builder approach
The workstreams are:
- technology transformation through AI-assisted engineering;
- business process transformation through workflow automation;
- product innovation through AI-native capabilities embedded in Travelport products.
Travelport's platforms power bookings for hundreds of thousands of travel suppliers in more than 165 countries.
Companies target the gap between traveler requests and confirmed bookings
The companies say booking systems were built for an earlier era. Agencies still spend time assembling complex itineraries manually, while travelers increasingly plan trips with AI tools that current platforms cannot fully interpret or fulfil. Cognizant and Travelport plan to embed AI in the core of the platforms rather than layer it on top.
Travelport CEO John Mangelaars described the expected impact as "step changes for airlines, agencies and travelers, not incremental gains." He cited understanding traveler intent, resolving disruption before it reaches travelers, and converting complex itineraries into confirmed bookings faster.
Cognizant CEO Ravi Kumar S said the company has invested substantially in AI across its platforms, engineering tooling and people. He said the Travelport work applies those capabilities to infrastructure the global travel industry depends on.
Travelport customer TripJack seeks faster delivery from platform partners
TripJack founder Hussain Patel said the company needs partners that can support scale, reliability and future product development. He said the biggest value lies in a partner that helps it move faster.
The relationship is one of Cognizant's longest-running client engagements. The companies plan to keep expanding platform modernization and bring new AI-powered capabilities to Travelport customers worldwide.