Navitaire Wins Multi-Year Deal From AirTran Airways
Minneapolis; March 21, 2001: Navitaire announced today it has signed a multi-year technology services agreement with AirTran Airways, Orlando, Fla.
Under the terms of the agreement, Navitaire's wholly owned travel technology business unit, "Open Skies by Navitaire," will provide an advanced hosted suite of technology services upgrading AirTran Airway's current reservations system. AirTran will have access to Navitaire's infrastructure and reliability at a fraction of the cost required to develop and support internal systems.
AirTran Airways will replace its internally maintained systems with new, hosted solutions, including Open Skies' hosted reservation system and Flight Speed graphical user interface, which offers unparalleled speed and ease of use for reservation agents. Flight Speed was designed and optimized for electronic transactions allowing the call center agent to focus on the customer, not the computer.
"We chose Flight Speed to enhance our reservations system because it will make AirTran Airways work faster and better," said AirTran Airways Vice President and Chief Information Officer Rocky Wiggins. "This is a very smooth system that will require less training for agents and, at the same time, enhance service for our customers."
"We are pleased to add a successful innovator like AirTran Airways to our growing roster of hosted customers", said Tom McClain, Navitaire's CEO. "Navitaire understands that technology is one of the final frontiers in the airline industry today. Our strategy is simple: to enable customers to grow revenues and become more cost efficient."
About AirTran Airways
AirTran Airways provides everyday, affordable air travel throughout the eastern United States, and unlike other airlines, never requires a roundtrip purchase or Saturday night stay. AirTran Airways is the launch customer for the Boeing 717, today's newest, most innovative and most environmentally friendly commercial aircraft. AirTran Airways is a subsidiary of AirTran Holdings, Inc. (AMEX:AAI. - news). AirTran Airways is located on the World Wide Web at www.airtran.com.
About Navitaire
Navitaire, creates and delivers the information systems that liberate the world's leading airlines to be more efficient and profitable. Navitaire Inc., a pioneer in the applications service provider (ASP) industry, began hosting passenger revenue accounting technology for airline customers in 1993. Navitaire provides application management, data center management, and network management services. The ASP delivery model makes it possible to offer industry-leading applications with reduced implementation time and risk, assured reliability and a cost-effective fee structure.
Navitaire's customer base consists of about 50 airlines, including nine of the world's 25 largest and a growing base of smaller airlines. Navitaire is headquartered in Minneapolis, with offices in Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Sydney (Australia), and Manila (Philippines).
Accenture Technology Ventures, the venture capital unit of Accenture, is the majority investor in Navitaire. Information about Navitaire, its products and the company's Year 2001 program can be found on the World Wide Web at www.navitaire.com.
Contact:
Susan Adelman
Navitaire Inc.
+1 (612) 317-7284
Jim Brown
AirTran Airways
407/251-5578
jbrown@airtranairways.com