Travelport Wins Second Successive Stevie® Award in 8th Annual American Business Awards(SM)

ATLANTA, June 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Travelport, the business services provider to the global travel industry, today announces it has won a Stevie Award for "Product Development / Management Team of the Year" in the 2010 American Business Awards.  Travelport was recognized for its technology integration work undertaken as part of the successful merger of Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines. The award is the second in consecutive years won by Travelport for outstanding IT achievement.

The airlines' merger presented a groundbreaking challenge and opportunity for Travelport's Airline IT Solutions team, a long-time systems and IT solution provider to both airlines. The key project objective was to consolidate Northwest Airlines into the inventory management, reservations and related systems of Delta with no airline customer disruption.  Integration of the airlines from an IT perspective in a timely manner was a key priority in terms of realizing synergies and presenting one face and experience to customers as rapidly as possible.

Commenting on the award recognition, Gordon Wilson, president and CEO of Travelport GDS which includes Travelport's Airline IT Solutions operations said, "This was an extraordinary effort and I am very proud of the Travelport team for delivering such mission critical results to strict deadlines, playing our role to its fullest extent in one of the largest IT projects in the travel industry to date.  The level of co-operation between the two companies was fantastic and there was regular detailed engagement and progress review with the most senior management in both companies throughout."

The team's most critical milestone between two Travelport inventory databases was the migration of Northwest's inventory databases and the other system which held Delta inventory.   Other major milestones included the integration of customer loyalty and benefit programs (frequent flyer), crew scheduling, and infrastructure changes for ongoing projects such as fleet migration and aircraft maintenance systems. Modifications to over 8,100 program segments on the Delta system with over 10,000 program segments overall were made.

Sherwood Carter, vice president, Travelport's Airline IT Solutions, and project team leader who accepted the award on behalf of the company added, "We're delighted with this award and proud of our considerable achievements. Unlike other industry airline migrations, this was completed without service interruption; neither competitive airlines nor airline customers were aware the migration took place."

More than 2,700 entries from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were submitted for consideration for the 40 Stevies, now in their 8th year of existence. More than 200 executives across the country participated in the judging process to determine the winners. The awards were presented during ceremonies at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City on June 21, 2010. More details about The American Business Awards and the lists of honorees in all categories are available at www.stevieawards.com/aba.

About Travelport (www.travelport.com)

Travelport is a broad-based business services company and a leading provider of critical transaction processing solutions to companies operating in the global travel industry.

Travelport is comprised of:

• the global distribution system (GDS) business that includes the Worldspan™ and Galileo™ brands;
• GTA, a leading global, multi-channel provider of hotel and ground services;
• Airline IT Solutions, which hosts mission critical applications and provides business and data analysis solutions for major airlines.

Travelport also owns approximately 48% of Orbitz Worldwide (NYSE: OWW), a leading global online travel company.

Travelport operates in 160 countries, reported 2009 revenues of $2.2 billion and has approximately 5,400 employees.  Travelport is a private company owned by The Blackstone Group, One Equity Partners, Technology Crossover Ventures and Travelport management.

About The Stevie Awards

Stevie Awards are conferred in four programs: The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.  Honoring companies of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide.  Learn more about The Stevie Awards at www.stevieawards.com.

SOURCE Travelport