NEW YORK -- A new online travel agent backed by five big airlines has the industry leaders looking over their shoulders before it has booked even one ticket or chosen a name.
The nameless newcomer, sometimes referred to as T-2, is owned by Delta Air Lines Inc., Continental Airlines Inc., Northwest Airlines Corp., UAL Corp.'s United Airlines and AMR Corp.'s American Airlines.About two dozen carriers have signed up to list their flights through the site, now being built by Boston Consulting Group. Announced in November, the site will start taking reservations during the busy summer travel season, the airlines say.
They'll be going head-to-head with online travel agents Expedia Inc. and Travelocity.com Inc. and computer-reservation companies Galileo International Inc. and Sabre Group Inc., the developer and majority owner of Travelocity.
But big growth expected in the online arena may mean there's room for another player. Online travel spending will leap to $28 billion for air, hotel, car, cruise and tour bookings by 2005, according to online research firm Jupiter Communications. In 1999, consumers spent $6.5 billion on travel through the Web.
Meanwhile, Expedia, which was spun off from Microsoft, and Travelocity, which was spun off from Sabre, have been busy building their identities. Travelocity has a marketing agreement with America Online Inc., for instance.
"Travelocity and Expedia are the ones with the big brand names right now," said Internet analyst Ethan McAfee of T. Rowe Price, which owns shares of Travelocity. "They've got brand recognition, and people have their user IDs already."
As the expected launch creeps closer, Travelocity and Expedia say they aren't threatened by the airlines' plan.
"It's hard to comment on a phantom, but we are very secure in our market position, said Suzi Levine, Expedia's marketing director.
Working in this nameless site's favor is the financial support of five large airlines. The hope is that a consortium format will convince the public the site is unbiased.
Boston Consulting's Carl Rutstein, a general manager helping to build the site, said it will spend $50 million to $100 million on an advertising campaign led by TBWA/Chiat/Day in its first 24 months.
Rutstein says the new site will display every possible route to a destination and the lowest existing fare. Travelers will choose flights by price range, number of connections, times or carrier and will even be able to choose or avoid certain aircraft, he said. "Any variable you can think of, we will be able to sort from it," he said.
But critics say lowest fares already are available on existing sites, and some doubt that the airlines will follow through on the plan.
"It's one of those too-many-chefs deals," said Nick Moore, an analyst at Jurika & Voyles, which owns shares of Sabre. "Any one company can move faster than a consortium can."