Galileo Reaches Agreement for Participation of Virgin Blue

Galileo International today announced it has reached agreement for the participation of Australia's leading low-fare airline Virgin Blue.

Galileo provides a simplified level of distribution to low-fare airlines like Virgin Blue that have no need for complex functionality to support their streamlined business models.

"Galileo has developed technology and commercial options to address the distribution strategies of the low-cost carriers and we are delighted at the prospect of working with Virgin Blue in this regard," said Janie Kaung, executive vice president and managing director of Galileo's Asia Pacific region.

"Our distribution will perfectly complement Virgin Blue's low-fare, high-quality business model, allowing them to compete effectively in the key corporate market and expanding their distribution internationally. Virgin Blue's decision to distribute via Galileo follows the decision by Virgin Express in Europe to join Galileo at the end of 2000 and we are delighted to have this chance to work with Virgin in the Australian market. We are currently working with Virgin Blue's technical teams to enable implementation as quickly as possible," added Kaung.

Virgin Blue Global Sales Manager, Jon Marshall, added: "We're extremely pleased to be able to participate in Galileo for our top-end corporate market. This allows corporate travel agencies to use an effective tool to present Virgin Blue as a strongly competitive, best-fare proposition to their clients. Our move into Galileo gives us global distribution and therefore access to international markets that may otherwise be unaware of the Virgin Blue offering in Australia. As Australia's second largest carrier, we believe this new relationship will assist us in opening new markets and growing our domestic market share beyond our current 30% level."