Galileo is a computer reservations system (CRS) owned by Travelport. As of 2000, it had a 26.4% share of worldwide CRS airline bookings.[1] In addition to airline reservations, the Galileo CRS is also used to book train travel, cruises, car rental, and hotel rooms.
The system was originally known as Apollo, launched in 1971 by United Airlines as their in-house booking system. In 1976, UA began installing Apollo terminals in travel agent offices. Apollo, and the competing American Airlines system Sabre, quickly took over much of the booking market. In response to possible government intervention due to antitrust concerns, UA spun off the system to become its own company in 1992, Covia. That same year, Covia purchased a competitor, Galileo, which had been created by a consortium of European airlines. They merged operatations under the Galileo name. UA remained major customers for Galileo until 2012, when they introduced a new in-house booking system, SHARES.
Galileo was later purchased by Travelport, which also purchased the competing Worldspan in 2007. On 28 September 2008, Galileo system was moved from Denver, Colorado, to the Worldspan datacenter in Atlanta, Georgia. Although they now share the same datacenter, they continue to be run as separate systems. Galileo is subject to the Capps II and its successor Secure Flight program for the selection of passengers with a risk profile. Galileo is a member of the International Air Transport Association, of the OpenTravel Alliance and of SITA.