Delta to sell Economy Comfort seats through Amadeus

Expanded partnership includes access to the carrier's premium economy seats with more leg room

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Aug 06, 2012, 04:00 ET

ATLANTA and MADRID, Aug. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) and Amadeus announced today they have expanded their commercial relationship to enable the sale of Economy Comfort, Delta's premium economy seats offering more leg room, through Amadeus' global distribution system (GDS).

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The expanded long-term agreement provides more choices for Delta customers and travel agents to access the popular Economy Comfort seating when booking travel via Amadeus.

"Delta is encouraged by the direction of the technology innovation at Amadeus, and this partnership demonstrates that Delta is listening to its valued corporate and agency partners by broadening the availability of our popular Economy Comfort seating," said Wayne Aaron, Vice President, Marketing Programs and Distribution Strategy at Delta. "It's part of the more than $3 billion we're investing to improve the travel experience of our customers at all points of their journey."

As part of this new agreement, Amadeus also will work with Delta on initiatives to further personalize and enhance the customer experience as Delta continues to transform the distribution of its products and services. Amadeus also will continue to distribute Delta's branded fares as well as its Economy Comfort premium seats.

Economy Comfort features three to four inches of additional leg room across Delta's fleet of two-class aircraft as well as giving passengers priority boarding. On long-haul international flights, the seats also have up to 50 percent more recline than standard economy class seats and customers receive complimentary beer, wine and cocktails. Economy Comfort is available on all Delta mainline aircraft and more than 250 two-class regional jets.

"This new agreement is a testament to the partnership philosophy shared by both companies and an understanding of what is important to our mutual customers. We believe this opportunity to distribute Delta's Economy Comfort product will allow Amadeus to further demonstrate our innovative technology that meets the complex and changing needs of the global marketplace. We are also especially pleased to reach this agreement with Delta Air Lines because of their critical importance to travelers across the globe," said Holger Taubmann, SVP Distribution for Amadeus worldwide.

Amadeus has a committed focus on securing long-term distribution partnerships with leading airlines around the world. Amadeus currently has long-term content agreements in place with airlines worldwide representing over 80 percent of all bookings made by Amadeus travel agencies.

About Amadeus

Amadeus is a leading transaction processor and provider of advanced technology solutions for the global travel and tourism industry.

Customer groups include travel providers (e.g. airlines, hotels, rail, ferries, etc.), travel sellers (travel agencies and websites), and travel buyers (corporations and individual travelers).

The group operates a transaction-based business model and processed more than 947 million billable travel transactions in 2011.

Amadeus has central sites in Madrid (corporate headquarters), Nice (development) and Erding (operations – data processing centre) and regional offices in Miami, Buenos Aires, Bangkok and Dubai. At a market level, Amadeus maintains customer operations through 73 local Amadeus Commercial Organisations covering 195 countries.

Amadeus is listed on the Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and Valencia stock exchanges and trades under the symbol "AMS.MC". For the year ended December 31, 2011 the company reported like-for-like revenues of €2,712 million and EBITDA of €1,039 million. The Amadeus group employs around 10,000 people worldwide, with 123 nationalities represented at the central offices.

To find out more about Amadeus please visit www.amadeus.com

To visit the Amadeus Investor Relations centre please www.investors.amadeus.com

About Delta Air Lines

Delta Air Lines serves more than 160 million customers each year. During the past year, Delta was named domestic "Airline of the Year" by the readers of Travel Weekly magazine, was named the "Top Tech-Friendly U.S. Airline" by PCWorld magazine for its innovation in technology and won the Business Travel News Annual Airline Survey. With an industry-leading global network, Delta and the Delta Connection carriers offer service to nearly 350 destinations in 65 countries on six continents. Headquartered in Atlanta, Delta employs 80,000 employees worldwide and operates a mainline fleet of more than 700 aircraft. A founding member of the SkyTeam global alliance, Delta participates in the industry's leading trans-Atlantic joint venture with Air France-KLM and Alitalia. Including its worldwide alliance partners, Delta offers customers more than 13,000 daily flights, with hubs in Amsterdam, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Memphis, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York-LaGuardia, New York-JFK, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Salt Lake City and Tokyo-Narita. The airline's service includes the SkyMiles frequent flier program, a world-class airline loyalty program; the award-winning BusinessElite service; and more than 50 Delta Sky Clubs in airports worldwide. Delta is investing more than $3 billion through 2013 in airport facilities and global products, services and technology to enhance the customer experience in the air and on the ground. Customers can check in for flights, print boarding passes, check bags and review flight status at delta.com.