Galileo Travel Agencies and their Customers Gain Comprehensive Access
To Fares While Airlines Gain Immediate Distribution Cost Savings
PARSIPPANY, N.J., Sept. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Galileo International,
a leading global distribution services (GDS) company and subsidiary of Cendant
Corporation (NYSE: CD), today announced Northwest Airlines and Continental
Airlines have joined its Preferred Fares Select program, providing
Galileo-connected travel agencies and their customers with greater access to
all published fares, including Web fares, for a three-year term. The company
expects to add additional airline carriers to Preferred Fares Select in the
near term.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020729/GALILEOLOGO2 )
These airlines join US Airways in a program to significantly reduce their
distribution costs, locking in rates for three years on all U.S.-originated
bookings. In exchange, Galileo-connected agencies gain access to all of the
airlines' publicly available fares for the participation term. This
competitive content includes all fares the airline sells through any other
GDS, third-party Web sites or their own Web site and reservation offices.
"Our participation in Galileo's Preferred Fares Select program is another
example of Northwest expanding access to our fares and content where it is
economically viable for us to do so," said Al Lenza, vice president of
distribution and e-commerce at Northwest Airlines. "Galileo-connected
agencies and the consumers they serve now have comprehensive access to
publicly-available Northwest fares, and Northwest will realize lower
distribution costs."
"We're thrilled to bring on Northwest and Continental to Galileo's
Preferred Fares Select program for three years, which helps provide a level of
certainty in these uncertain times," said Mitch Gross, executive vice
president and managing director of Galileo Americas Client Services.
"Preferred Fares Select benefits all participants by delivering real cost
savings to airlines and more competitive content to help travel agencies
better serve travelers."
"We applaud Galileo's continued efforts to make fundamental changes to the
distribution model, and have transitioned to their Preferred Fares Select to
further broaden our distribution while lowering our cost of doing business,"
said Jim Compton, senior vice president of marketing for Continental Airlines.
Galileo introduced its Preferred Fares Select Program last month to
combine the strengths of its previous Preferred Fares and Momentum programs.
The expanded content will be automatically available to all Galileo U.S. point
of sale travel agencies and other subscribers, such as corporations utilizing
Galileo or its affiliated Travelport corporate booking tool.
"Combining comprehensive fare access to Northwest, Continental and US
Airways is great news for travel agencies using Galileo," said Rob Kneen, CEO
of Traveline Travel. "Not only does this mean more complete content, it also
gives us a three-year outlook that helps us better plan for the future."
About Galileo International
Galileo International (http://www.galileo.com) is a global technology
leader. Its core business is providing electronic global distribution
services for the travel industry through its computerized reservation systems,
leading-edge products and innovative, Internet-based solutions. Galileo is a
value-added distributor of travel inventory dedicated to supporting its travel
supplier, agency and corporate customers and, through them, expanding traveler
choice. A subsidiary of Cendant Corporation (NYSE: CD) and part of Cendant's
Travel Distribution Services Division, Galileo is headquartered in Parsippany,
NJ, and has offices worldwide.
About Cendant Travel Distribution Services Division
Cendant's Travel Distribution Services Division is one of the world's
largest and most geographically diverse collection of travel distribution
businesses. The division, employing some 5,000 people in more than 110
countries, includes: Galileo, a leading global distribution system (GDS)
serving more than 47,000 travel agencies and over 51,000 hotels; hotel
distribution and services businesses (Trust, THOR, WizCom); leading travel
agencies, including Cheap Tickets and Lodging.com; an airline market
intelligence company; and Travelport, a corporate travel solutions company.
SOURCE Galileo International
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Related links:
http://www.galileo.com
Photo Notes:http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020729/GALILEOLOGO2
CONTACT:
Galileo Americas Inquiries, Jill Brenner of
Cendant Travel Distribution Services, +1-973-496-5870,
TDS.CorpCom@cendant.com
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