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Neko-Sweeper Game |
Orbitz
constituted the airline industry's response to the rise of online travel
agencies such as ProlineTravel.com, Expedia and Travelocity, as well as
the continued increase in GDS fees, and trailed its major competitors
by several years. Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines,
and United Airlines, subsequently joined by American Airlines, invested
a combined $145 million to start the project in November 1999. It was
code-named T2 – some claimed, meaning "Travelocity Terminator"
– but adopted the brand name Orbitz when it commenced corporate
operations as DUNC, LLC (the initials of its first four founding airlines)
in February 2000. [1] The first executive of the company was a technologist
named Alex Zoghlin. The company begain Beta testing early the next year,
and Orbitz.com officially launched in June 2001.
[edit] Anti-trust concerns
Even before the site began operating, the company faced intense antitrust scrutiny – after all, five of the six oligopolist "major" airlines, controlling 80 percent of the US air travel market, were collaborating. Several consumer organizations, as well as Orbitz primary competitors at the time (Expedia, Sabre, Travelocity, Galileo) spent a significant amount of money lobbying the United States Department of Transportation to block the project from the outset, and some 23 state attorneys general also voiced concerns thanks to local competitors complaining. When the DOT permitted the company to move ahead in April 2001, the competitive lobbying effort was switched to the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice and the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce..
[edit] Anti-trust concerns
Even before the site began operating, the company faced intense antitrust scrutiny – after all, five of the six oligopolist "major" airlines, controlling 80 percent of the US air travel market, were collaborating. Several consumer organizations, as well as Orbitz primary competitors at the time (Expedia, Sabre, Travelocity, Galileo) spent a significant amount of money lobbying the United States Department of Transportation to block the project from the outset, and some 23 state attorneys general also voiced concerns thanks to local competitors complaining. When the DOT permitted the company to move ahead in April 2001, the competitive lobbying effort was switched to the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice and the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce..
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The Infinite Cat Project
Presented by Mike Stanfill, Private Hand
Illustration, Flash Animation, Web Design
www.privatehand.com