Expedia.com Expedia, Inc. and Worldspan Announce Expanded Relationship and Technology Licensing Agreement
BELLEVUE, Wash. and ATLANTA – July 10, 2001 – Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) and Worldspan® today announced an expanded relationship in which Expedia's revolutionary fare searching technology – developed with the help of Worldspan's expertise – will be licensed and made available to Worldspan's nearly 21,000 traditional and online travel agencies. Partners since 1995, Expedia® and Worldspan are offering lower cost technology that enables agents to access more options than ever.
Powered by Expedia's revolutionary fare searching technology, Worldspan's new service, named ePricing, will have its own user interface and provide its travel agents and e-commerce clients with hundreds of itinerary choices – ensuring comprehensive price options and a broad range of schedules. This increase in flight selection stems from advanced searching and pricing tools that use Expedia's server-based technology.
“Expedia has proven the fare-searching capabilities, massive scalability and deep robustness of this revolutionary technology,” said Paul Blackney, president and CEO of Worldspan. “We're extending our partnership to become the first global distribution system to deliver such technology to agents in the field.”
Worldspan's upcoming service, available later this year, will be customizable for a range of agents from small leisure agencies to the largest travel management companies and online travel sites. This innovative technology will feature lower system overhead costs and a user-friendly interface capable of displaying graphical comparisons. It will be initially available for U.S. domestic pricing and is adaptable for future development and enhancements.
“This service also helps suppliers, who will have more of their offerings visible to agents,” Blackney continued. “Through this increased success for our partners and customers, Worldspan will see immediate benefits from licensing this industry-leading technology.”
Expedia's fare searching technology is a subset of the ESP (Expert Searching and Pricing) platform that powers the Expedia.com® online travel service and has been under joint development by Expedia and Worldspan for more than four years. This searching and pricing technology, first released in April 2000 through Expedia's Build Your Own Trip feature, executes complex pricing queries on the Windows NT and Windows 2000 platforms. The platform is capable of handling massive transaction volumes, and is scalable, robust, and cost-effective in order to accommodate new industry demands.
“Worldspan has always been at the forefront of providing innovative technology solutions for travel agencies and travel service providers,” said Richard Barton, president and CEO of Expedia, Inc. “Through our partnership, we have combined Worldspan's extensive industry expertise with Expedia's deep technological prowess to create the most advanced and affordable fare searching engine in the world – one which represents the next generation of travel service technology.”
About About Worldspan
Worldspan provides global electronic distribution of travel information, Internet products and connectivity, and electronic commerce capabilities for travel agencies, travel service providers and corporations worldwide. The company's three lines of business are travel supplier services, e-commerce, and global distribution systems for the worldwide travel industry. The Worldspan reservations system provides nearly 21,000 travel agencies and other users worldwide with travel data and booking capabilities for hundreds of the world's leading travel supplier services. Worldspan is the market leader in e-commerce for the travel industry, processing more than 50 percent of all online travel bookings. The company maintains world headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. Worldspan is owned by affiliates of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE: DAL), Northwest Airlines (NASDAQ: NWAC) and TWA Airlines LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of American Airlines, Inc. Additional information is available at www.worldspan.com.
About About Expedia, Inc.
Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE]operates Expedia.com, a leading, independent online travel service in the United States with localized versions in Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom. To help customers travel right, Expedia.com, a top ten travel agency, provides the best combination of air, car and hotel booking, vacation package and cruise offers, destination information and mapping. Industry experts agree. Expedia's quality and leadership was recognized through several awards, including both PC Magazine's “Readers' Choice” and “Editors' Choice” Awards, Forbes' “Favorite General Travel Site,” Smart Business' MVP Award, and PC World's “Best Bet.”
Expedia.com customers are supported by a credit card guarantee (U.S. site only), an industry-leading privacy policy, and live agents via e-mail and an 800-number available 24 hours a day/seven days a week. Expedia.com is also available under Travel on the MSN® network of Internet services.
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