Exhibit 99.1
DELTA AIR LINES AND CHEAP TICKETS ANNOUNCE
NEW STRATEGIC ALLIANCE
HONOLULU (May 15, 2001) - Cheap Tickets, Inc. (Nasdaq: CTIX) and Delta Air Lines
(NYSE: DAL) today announced a new strategic alliance, which broadens the amount
of fares and destinations the airline will offer through the discount leisure
travel company, and provides Delta an equity warrant in Cheap Tickets. To
support this alliance, the two companies will implement cooperative marketing
initiatives to bolster business for both companies.
As part of the five-year agreement, Delta and Cheap Tickets will jointly
market and distribute Delta inventory through Cheap Tickets' multiple
distribution channels, offering customers the convenience of retail travel
stores, call centers, and the Internet.
"This new alliance builds on our existing relationship with Delta, and
Cheap Tickets' proven ability to effectively sell the airline's inventory by
offering our customers competitive fares through our unique multi-channel sales
model," said Sam E. Galeotos, president and CEO of Cheap Tickets. "Cheap Tickets
is excited to partner with one of the world's leading airlines, and we are even
more excited to leverage our marketing resources to jointly sell the increased
inventory Delta is making available through Cheap Tickets."
"Delta and Cheap Tickets deliver consumers superior value, and this
alliance provides additional value to our mutual customers," said Lee Macenczak,
Delta's senior vice president - Sales and Distribution. "The alliance supports
Delta's ongoing efforts to make our product available to a targeted customer
base, like that of Cheap Tickets."
"This agreement not only benefits both companies, but it also benefits the
value-minded leisure traveler by providing Cheap Tickets' growing customer base
an even wider selection of destinations, low fares and seat availability," added
Galeotos.
"This alliance is the result of recent and continuing dialogue with several
key airlines as part of our concerted effort to diversify and strengthen our
supplier base," said Galeotos. "The new Delta partnership is yet another
milestone in achieving Cheap Tickets' strategic goal of being the number one
discounted leisure travel company in the North America."
Cheap Tickets recently announced its ninth consecutive profitable quarter
ending Mar. 31, with gross bookings up 44 percent over the previous quarter to
$192 million.
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ABOUT CHEAP TICKETS
Cheap Tickets, Inc. (Nasdaq: CTIX), founded in 1986, is a leading seller of
discounted leisure travel products. In addition to offering the full range of
regular published airfares, Cheap Tickets gives consumers access to its
exclusive collection of more than one million unpublished airfares on major
airlines - one of the largest collections of discounted airfares in the
industry. Cheap Tickets' family of discounted travel products also includes
cruises, rental cars, and hotel accommodations. Consumers can conveniently book
travel through Cheap Tickets' Web site at www.cheaptickets.com, 24/7 call
centers at 1-800-OKCHEAP, or retail travel stores. Cheap Tickets sells an
average of one ticket every 15 seconds.
ABOUT DELTA AIR LINES
Delta's goal is to become the No. 1 airline in the eyes of its customers,
flying passengers and cargo from anywhere to everywhere. People choose to fly
Delta more often than any other airline in the world on 5,243 flights each day
to 365 cities in 64 countries on Delta, Delta Express, Delta Shuttle, Delta
Connection carriers and Delta's Worldwide Partners. Delta is a founding member
of SkyTeam, a global airline alliance that provides customers with extensive
worldwide destinations, flights and services. For more information, go to
delta.com.
CONTACTS:
Media
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Delta Air Lines, Corporate Communications, (404) 715-2554
Dawn Soper Lyon, Cheap Tickets, Inc., 808-945-7439 x7347
Investor Relations
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Todd Kehrli, MKR Group LLC for Cheap Tickets, Inc., 310-451-7713
CHEAP TICKETS
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
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1995: Statements in this press release which are not historical in fact are
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"forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. These
forward-looking statements include statements regarding the new strategic
alliance between Cheap Tickets (the "Company") and Delta Air Lines, the benefits
to the Company's business and customers from the strategic alliance and the
Company's plans to diversify and strengthen its supplier base. Although the
Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking
statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will
prove to have been correct. Actual results may differ materially due to factors
including, but not limited to: uncertainty regarding demand for the Company's
products in general; actual and potential competition for leisure travel
customers and for discount tickets; the market for leisure travel; the continued
growth of online commerce and Internet infrastructure; the success of the
Company's advertising programs and the strength of its brand recognition; the
Company's ability to enter into new supply agreements and to expand and enhance
existing supply agreements; the Company's ability to retain and attract key
personnel and to manage growth effectively; the Company's ability to maintain
and renew its technological
infrastructure and to maintain the security of its communications network; and
the Company's ability to obtain needed services from reliable third parties.
Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of
the underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results of current or future
operations may vary materially from those anticipated, estimated, or projected.
Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking
statements, which speak only as of their dates. For a discussion of such risks
and uncertainties, and other factors which could cause actual results to differ
materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see
information contained in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year
ended December 31, 2000, its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and other reports
the Company files with the Securities and Exchange Commission.