British Airways and Travelport Agree on New Full Content Deal

PRNewswire
LONDON

LONDON, Nov. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Travelport, one of the world's leading providers of global distribution systems (GDS) and operator of both the Galileo and Worldspan platforms, is the first GDS provider to reach a new long-term, global full content agreement with British Airways.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20061023/NYM260LOGO)

The new agreement, which takes immediate effect, will see all of British Airways' published fares and inventory made available to Galileo and Worldspan-connected travel agents worldwide until April 2013. In the UK and Ireland, the opt-in levels that were established by Travelport in March 2007, remain unchanged.

John Mornement, Head of Selling and Distribution for British Airways, said: "We have worked hard with Travelport to come to an agreement that will both reduce our distribution costs and ensure that agents continue to have access to our full published content, including our lowest fares, through Galileo and Worldspan."

Matthew Hall, Vice President, Supplier Business Development for Travelport's GDS business in Europe, Middle East and Africa, commented: "We have a strong track record of reaching full content agreements with flag carriers across the globe and this deal with BA is further testament to our ability to reach sustainable deals that clearly demonstrate the long term viability and importance of the agency channel. I am delighted that we have struck a deal that is mutually beneficial for both parties and offers great value to travel agents."

Travelport and British Airways will also work together in the coming months on providing Galileo and Worldspan-connected travel agents with the ability to book extras such as seating through the GDS.

About Travelport

Travelport is one of the world's largest travel conglomerates offering broad based business services to companies operating in the global travel industry. Travelport is comprised of the global distribution system business that includes the Worldspan and Galileo brands; GTA, a leading global, multi-channel provider of hotel and ground services; IT Services and Software, which hosts mission critical applications and provides business and data analysis solutions for major airlines. With 2008 revenues of $2.5 billion, Travelport operates in 160 countries and has approximately 5,300 employees.

Travelport also owns approximately 48 per cent of Orbitz Worldwide (NYSE: OWW), a leading global online travel company. Travelport is a private company owned by The Blackstone Group, One Equity Partners, Technology Crossover Ventures and Travelport management.

More information about Travelport is available at www.travelport.com.

About British Airways

British Airways is the UK's largest global airline. It serves 155 destinations and last year flew 33 million people around the world. Visit www.ba.com for more information.

For media enquiries, please contact:

    Kate Aldridge                          Amanda Allan
    Travelport Corporate                   British Airways Corporate
     Communications                         Communications
    Tel:    +44 (0) 1753 288720            Tel:    +44 (0) 208 738 3153
    Mobile: +44 (0) 7921 698757            Mobile: +44 (0) 7789 612172
    Email:  kate.aldridge@travelport.com   Email:  amanda.allan@ba.com

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20061023/NYM260LOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com

SOURCE: Travelport

Web site: http://www.travelport.com/