Airlines' online travel firm takes off
Bloomberg News
CHICAGO — Orbitz LLC, an Internet travel company owned by the five biggest U.S. airlines, more than doubled the value of its airline, hotel and rental-car bookings as the Web site ended a test and opened to the public Saturday.
Associated Press
Bookings reached $500,000, up from $200,000 the previous day, when it ended a three-month test with limited access, said Jeff Katz, Orbitz's chairman and chief executive. Orbitz, which gets fees from companies offering travel services through its site, declined to say how much revenue it received.
Jeff Katz, chief executive of Orbitz, saw bookings reach $4 million during the firm's three-month test period.
The Chicago-based company, owned by UAL Corp.'s United Airlines, AMR Corp.'s American Airlines, Delta Air Lines Inc., Northwest Airlines Corp. and Continental Airlines Inc., expects to be profitable, and perhaps publicly owned, in 2003, Katz said.
The U.S. Transportation Department in April declined to stop Orbitz from starting services. The Justice Department still is conducting an antitrust review of the company, and 22 state attorneys general have raised antitrust concerns about Orbitz's operations. Southwest Airlines Co. also has sued Orbitz to try to stop the site from listing its flight information.
Orbitz has been getting 400 new users a minute since the site opened to the public, Katz said. Bookings during the test period, which began in late February, totaled $4 million, he said.
The company provides reservation information for 455 domestic and international airlines, including some carriers' Web-only fares. Orbitz's site also lists information for hotels, rental cars, cruises and vacation packages.
