SOUTHLAKE, Texas & EAGAN, Minn., Jan 24, 2006 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Sabre Holdings (NYSE:TSG) and Northwest Airlines (OTC:NWACQ.PK) today announced that Northwest has become the most recent carrier to sign a new five-year, full content agreement.
Through the agreement, all Northwest published fares and inventory, including Web fares, will be available through the Sabre global distribution system (GDS).
“We are very excited to partner with Northwest on a new long-term, full content marketing agreement to help them increase revenues and effectively market and sell their travel products around the world,” said Hugh Jones, chief operating officer, Sabre Travel Network. “The move underscores our ability to provide an efficient marketplace, today and for years to come, to a critical mass of global travel buyers and sellers.”
“This new long-term full content agreement leverages our portfolio and is expected to deliver great value to Sabre Holdings,” said Jones.
“We are pleased to enter into an agreement with Sabre that achieves Northwest’s electronic distribution objectives,” said Al Lenza, vice president of distribution and e-commerce at Northwest.
The transaction is subject to normal and customary approvals related to Northwest’s Chapter 11 re-organization proceedings. Concurrent with the announcement, the companies also said they agreed to settle all current litigation.
The expected impact of this agreement was included in Sabre Holdings’ financial projections for 2006 and 2007 provided on December 12, 2005.
The deal builds upon the previous long-term content agreement that Travelocity and Northwest signed to ensure that all Northwest fares and inventory, including web fares, are available through Travelocity.
About Northwest Airlines
Northwest Airlines is the world’s fifth largest airline with hubs at Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Memphis, Tokyo and Amsterdam, and approximately 1,200 daily departures. Northwest is a member of SkyTeam, an airline alliance that offers customers one of the world’s most extensive global networks. Northwest and its travel partners serve more than 900 cities in excess of 160 countries on six continents. Additional information on Northwest is available at www.nwa.com.
About Sabre Holdings
Sabre Holdings connects people with the world’s greatest travel possibilities by retailing travel products and providing distribution and technology solutions for the travel industry. Sabre Holdings supports travelers, travel agents, corporations, government agencies and travel suppliers through its companies: Travelocity, Sabre Travel Network and Sabre Airline Solutions. Headquartered in Southlake, Texas, the company has approximately 9,000 employees in 45 countries. Full year 2004 revenues totaled $2.1 billion. Sabre Holdings, an S&P 500 company, is traded on the NYSE under the symbol TSG. More information is available at http://www.sabre-holdings.com.
Statements in this release which are not purely historical facts or which necessarily depend upon future events, including statements about the value expected from the agreements with Northwest Airlines, about Sabre Holdings Corporation’s forecasted financial performance or other statements about anticipations, beliefs, expectations, hopes, intentions or strategies for the future, may be forward looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward looking statements. All forward looking statements are based upon information available to Sabre Holdings Corporation on the date this release was issued. Sabre Holdings Corporation undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Any forward looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from the events or results described in the forward looking statements, including risks or uncertainties related to Sabre Holdings Corporation revenues being subject to adverse changes to our travel supplier relationships and potential substantial decreases in travel transaction volumes. Sabre Holdings Corporation may not succeed in addressing these and other risks. Further information regarding factors that could affect our financial and other results can be found in the risk factors section of Sabre Holdings Corporation’s most recent filing on Form 10Q with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
SOURCE: Sabre Holdings and Northwest Airlines
Sabre Holdings, Southlake Media: Michael Berman, 682-605-2397 or Investors: Karen Fugate, 682-605-2343 www.sabre-holdings.com
