Booking from around 200 travel agencies, who use global distribution system (GDS) service of Amadeus for ticket reservation, ground to a halt yesterday due to the court order passed against the company on Monday.

The Court of Assistant Sessions Judge, Dhaka issued the injunction on Bangladesh operation of Amadeus upon a petition filed by Zakaria Haider, president of Youth Economists' Forum. He alleged the company has been evading tax and siphoning off money from Bangladesh.

Travellers flocked to airlines offices yesterday, as most travel agents failed to help them with booking and confirming tickets through the automated system of Amadeus, which holds 65 percent market share in Bangladesh.

Apart from Amadeus, three other companies -- Galileo, Abacus and World Span -- provide similar reservation services in Bangladesh. Of the total 1,200 travel agencies in Bangladesh, 300 use GDS for automated reservation.

Sources said the travel agencies having links with Madrid-based Amadeus cannot function as SITA, world's leading provider of global information and telecommunications solutions to air transport and related industries, snapped connection to Amadeus following the court injunction.

"We cannot book tickets and confirm reservation for international passengers due to the suspension of Amadeus operation. The passengers are suffering," an official of a travel agency, which subscribes to Amadeus service, said yesterday.

He said if the operation of Amadeus remains suspended for two more days, there will be a chaos in international ticket reservation, causing serious plight to passengers.

An official of Amadeus said the company will go to higher court on Saturday to the lower court order vacated. He however refused to give details about the injunction.

Earlier on August 2, the industries ministry asked Amadeus to submit its income tax certificate and a statement of the funds it remitted from Bangladesh during the last three years. Bangladesh Bank also asked the company to provide information about its businesses, tax and revenue payments. The company denied having evaded any tax.

Every time an airline or travel agent books a ticket, using the Amadeus reservation system, the company earns $3 to $4 depending on routes.

According to a rough estimate by industry sources, the four service providers handled $25 lakh worth of business during the first six months of the current calendar year. Of this amount, Amadeus alone earned around $12,60,000.