US Airways Group Inc. (LCC) is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages from Sabre Holdings Corp. after launching an antitrust suit against the travel-services provider that intensifies the battle between airlines and distributors.

Sabre runs the largest U.S. global distribution system, or GDS, which provide travel agents with airline fares and schedules and which form a crucial link with premium corporate customers. The company is owned by private-equity companies Silver Lake and TPG.

US Airways said Sabre accounted for $4 billion of its ticket sales in 2010 and also said it was forced to sign a new deal with the company earlier this year or face a ruinous loss of business.

The Phoenix-based airline alleged Sabre "has engaged in a pattern of exclusionary conduct to shut out competition, protect its monopoly pricing power and maintain its technologically-obsolete business model."

Airlines have for years been trying to force changes in the way that GDS operate, pushing for more flexibility to sell tickets and other products through their own websites.

The industry also sees the business model of the GDS industry--which takes data from airlines and then charges them for each booking based on that information--as outdated and unsustainable.

American Airlines parent AMR Corp. (AMR) has been at the forefront of efforts to shake up the industry structure, battling Travelport--which owns three GDS platforms and online ticket seller Orbitz Worldwide Inc. (OWW)--as well as Expedia Inc. (EXPE).

AMR, which used to own Sabre, is also in dispute with the company but, after a brief court battle, agreed to try to secure a fresh deal with the company by June.

Sabre wasn't immediately available for comment.

The airline is the first in the industry to renew agreements signed with GDS operators in 2006 that expire over the next 12 months. Other U.S. carriers remain in talks with Sabre, Travelport's Apollo, Galileo and Worldspan GDS units and Amadeus IT Holding SA (AMS.MC), which has a small footprint in the Americas but which is the largest player in Europe.

US Airways isn't expected to sue other GDS operators, according to people familiar with the situation.

-By Doug Cameron, Dow Jones Newswires; 312-750-4135; doug.cameron@dowjones.com

--Joan E. Solsman contributed to this article.
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