<B> Tech Talk</B>
By Mary Ann McNulty, Technology Editor
<B>Internet Lures Buckman, Hoffman</B>
Worldspan is searching for both a new CEO and a new vice president of distribution planning and development to replace Mike Buckman, who is leaving at the end of the month to join RealSelect Inc., and Jeff Hoffman, who apparently is headed for Priceline.com. Buckman will become president and COO of RealSelect, which partners with the National Association of Realtors on the Realtors.com site. Buckman joined Worldspan in 1995, following a 25-year travel industry career. In recent years, he has been trying to forge a merger with another CRS and is rumored to have held talks with both Amadeus and Galileo. Just last month, Iberia's top executive told reporters that a merger of Amadeus and Worldspan will occur by year-end.
Hoffman tendered his resignation last month, and insiders said he intended to join one leading Internet company when he was bombarded with three other job propositions. Although Hoffman declined to provide details at press time, as he had yet to sign a contract, sources said a financial package rumored to be in the millions provided the incentive to change his original plan. Priceline filed for its initial public offering in December and is expected to begin trading by next month. Meanwhile, Worldspan is searching for replace-ments for both executives, with an acting CEO expected to be named soon.
<a name="2"><B>Airlines Pushing Online Bookings</B>
It was a big month for airlines embracing technology to lower their distribution costs. Virgin Atlantic has hired Internet Travel Network to create its first Web site; Alitalia is hiring IBM to install 42 self-service kiosks in 10 major Italian airports by mid 1999; and Lufthansa German Airlines is signing a marketing alliance with Preview Travel Inc. to boost its online sales. British Airways announced plans to invest millions of dollars in technology that will allow it to move 50 percent of its bookings to the Internet by 2003, a dramatic rise from the less than 1 percent it receives online today.
<a name="3"><B>Analysts Like Galileo</B>
Galileo International has topped the annual list of 1,000 companies that Wall Street analysts like best. The ranking, called the Shareholder Scoreboard, was published in The Wall Street Journal. The report is based on the average strength of analysts' recommendations during 1998, as measured by I/B/E/S International Inc. On a scale of one to five, Galileo was the only company that received an average recommendation of 1.00, the highest score, meaning that all analysts who track the GDS gave it their strongest "buy" recommendation. Galileo shareholders enjoyed a 58.7 percent total return in 1998.
<a name="4"><B>40 More Corporations Pick Trip Manager</B>
Substantially outpacing online booking contracts signed last year, 40 corporations--described as small to midsize--have been contracted to deploy Worldspan's Trip Manager since January, and some already have begun deployment. More than 200 corporations have signed up for Trip Manager since it was launched in 1997. Now that it has some critical mass, Worldspan last month held its first Trip Manager Conference of 100 travel managers, consultants and Worldspan employees. High-tech trend guru and author Don Tapscott, president of New Paradigm Learning Corp., told the group that the Internet is forming a new infrastructure for business, changing the structure of companies, the nature of management, the marketing models and the dynamics of competition. Companies that understand the new rules have the best opportunity to succeed in the future, he predicted.
<a name="5"><B>U.S. Postal Service Signs With OAG</B>
The U.S. Postal Service will provide the OAG Official Traveler Travel Information System to all employees. Although the application is updated just once a month and doesn't offer booking, it does list all published worldwide flights and over 68,000 hotels, and displays full details on all GSA contract flights, government discount hotels, per diems and properties certified as meeting the requirements of the federal Fire Safety Act.
<a name="6"><B>Same Game, Simpler Name</B>
Pegasus is standardizing the names of its products. THISCO now will be known as Pegasus Electronic Distribution, Hotel Clearing Corp. has become Pegasus Commission Processing and Pegasus IQ now is Pegasus Business Intelligence. Due to its broad recognition, TravelWeb.com will retain its name.