Delta to Sell Economy Comfort Through Travelport Systems

Premium seats with more leg room to be available through Travelport GDSs

Delta's largest ancillary service partnership to date

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Jun 04, 2012, 08:00 ET

ATLANTA, June 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) and Travelport have reached agreement to sell Economy Comfort, Delta's premium Economy product offering more leg room, through Travelport's global distribution systems.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090202/DELTALOGO )

The agreement will create Economy Comfort booking access later this year for travel agents who use Galileo, Worldspan or Apollo.

"Customers today can purchase Economy Comfort directly with Delta at delta.com, through a Reservations agent or at the airport via a kiosk or ticket agent," said Wayne Aaron, vice president -- Marketing Programs and Distribution Strategy at Delta. "Partnering with Travelport broadens the availability of this popular product to Travelport-affiliated travel agents. We are always willing to work with partners such as Travelport that bring value to the distribution chain and can deliver our product on a cost-effective basis."

Delta's agreement with Travelport is its largest ancillary service partnership to date and enables Travelport to integrate these merchandising capabilities into the standard travel agency desktop. It demonstrates Delta's ongoing commitment to work with distribution partners in broadening access to popular ancillary products such as Economy Comfort.

"We're delighted to provide Travelport-connected travel agents globally with the ability to offer their customers Delta Air Lines' Economy Comfort seating later this year," said Derek Sharp, Travelport's president for the Americas. "This agreement with Delta Air Lines underscores that Travelport is ready, willing and able to deliver technology to merchandise ancillary products and services through the travel agency channel to provide travelers with additional options and added convenience."

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.

About Travelport (www.travelport.com)

Travelport is a broad-based business services company and a leading provider of critical transaction processing solutions to companies operating in the global travel industry. With a presence in over 170 countries, approximately 3,500 employees and 2011 net revenue of $2.0 billion, Travelport is comprised of the global distribution systems (GDS) business, which includes the Galileo and Worldspan brands, and its Airline IT Solutions business.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Travelport is a privately owned company.

About Delta

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.