CheapTickets, Vliegwinkel, BudgetAir and Vayama Join Together Under the Wings of BCD

ZEIST, The Netherlands, Jan. 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the international travel company BCD Holdings N.V. announced the merger of CheapTickets, Vliegwinkel, Flugladen, BudgetAir and Vayama. Together with investors ING Corporate Investments, Bluefield Investments and the owners of Beins Travel Group (CheapTickets), BCD Holdings unites these online travel companies, forming a new internet travel organization with global reach.

CheapTickets and Vliegwinkel are industry leaders in the Netherlands and Germany. Vayama has also quickly matured on the American online travel market. CEO BCD, Joop Drechsel says: "The merger of these companies results in one strong and international online travel company. Our common goal is to strengthen our current representation in the various countries, as well as expanding our activities in the remaining parts of Europe and in Asia."

Online travel agent BudgetAir recently expanded its activities in Belgium, France and England, and Vayama was successfully launched in Canada, England, Thailand, Hong Kong and Singapore. "Each of these companies has continuously pushed the boundaries and they complement each other in many ways," says Raymond Vrijenhoek, CEO Beins Travel Group.

The new organization, led by the existing management and including offices in the Netherlands, Germany, the USA and India, is active in more than 15 countries, with approximately 350 employees and an annual total revenue of over U.S. $ 750 million.

The joining of forces has been facilitated by ING Corporate Investments, as a minority shareholder in the new combination.

About BCD Holdings

BCD Holdings N.V., a Dutch family-owned company founded in 1975 by John Fentener van Vlissingen, is a market leader in the travel industry. The BCD Holdings companies are BCD Travel (global corporate travel management), Park 'N Fly (off-airport parking), TRX (travel transaction processing and data integration), Airtrade (consolidating and online travel), VakantieXperts (leisure), Vayama (online travel USA) and Parkmobile International (mobile parking and traffic applications). BCD Holdings employs approximately 13,000 people and operates in more than 90 countries with total sales, including franchising, of U.S.$ 14.8 billion. For more information, visit www.bcd-nv.com.

About CheapTickets

CheapTickets, part of the Beins Travel Group that was established in 1971, started on the Dutch market in 2001 with CheapTickets.nl. With the obtained revenue of euro 189 million in 2010, the Beins Travel Group is the industry leader in the Netherlands in the range of online flight ticket sales, accommodations, rental cars and travel packages. In 2007 the German website CheapTickets.de was launched with a call center in Saarbrucken. CheapTickets is now active in several countries with different labels such as CheapTicketsbusiness.nl, CheapTickets.ch, CheapTickets.be and GreenTickets.at. The Beins Travel Group also owns a high quality traditional travel agency, Beins Travel. Beside offices in the Netherlands and Germany, the company also owns an establishment on Curacao.

About Vliegwinkel

Vliegwinkel.nl and BudgetAir.nl are part of Vliegwinkel Holding B.V. in Haarlem and belong to the biggest internet travel agencies in the Netherlands. On these websites the visitor can compare ticket prices and book all airlines - also low-cost carriers - at a glance, sorted by destination and airport. The flight ticket can be combined with hotels, car rental and airport transfer. Vliegwinkel Holding is a subsidiary of BCD Holdings N.V., and simultaneously time runs successful sites in Germany, (Flugladen.de), Belgium (BudgetAir.be), England (BudgetAir.co.uk) and France (BudgetAir.fr).

About Vayama

Vayama is a first-of-its-kind website dedicated exclusively to international travel. Vayama offers price and booking capabilities for all available international air travel to 191 countries, including airlines, fares and routes that people never knew existed.  Vayama was developed by travel experts with decades of experience in the industry backed by a team of top engineers based in Silicon Valley. Vayama is an operating unit of Airtrade International Inc, which is a subsidiary of BCD Holdings, one of the world's leading travel logistics and financial services companies. For more information, go to www.vayama.com.

About ING Corporate Investments

ING Corporate Investments is part of the ING Group, a global financial institution offering services in banking, investment, life insurances and pensions. ING has over 85 million clients worldwide in Europe,  the United States, Canada, Latin America, Asia and Australia.  ING Corporate Investments offers subordinated loans and equity to companies in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg (Benelux). However, its main focus is on offering custom solutions for, among others, growth investments, buy-outs and balance optimization.

About Bluefield Investments

Bluefield Investments, established in 2006, is the investment company jointly owned by Ton aan de Stegge and Robert van Maasakker. The company offers resources for global investments in corporate ventures, focusing on growth, fusion and acquisition.

SOURCE Vayama.com