Delta Air Lines and three of its competitors are creating a site on the Internet to compete against Microsoft's Expedia, Travelocity, Priceline.com and other online ticket merchants.
The joint venture between Delta, United Airlines, Northwest Airlines and Continental Airlines is expected to begin operations early next year. The site will feature published fares from all carriers worldwide for comparison and purchase. It also will include Internet specials from participating carriers.In addition to airline bookings, customers will have access to hotel, car rental and other travel services on the site, Delta said. Each airline will continue to operate its own Web site, and the combined site will be managed independently of the suppliers.
The initiative comes five weeks after Travelocity announced that it will merge with San Francisco-based Preview Travel, another large online travel agency. Travelocity is owned by The Sabre Group, which is controlled by AMR Corp., the parent of American Airlines.