Contacts:              
Association of Corporate Travel
Cheryl Hutchinson, President-Elect, Executives
ACTE
Phone: 703-683-5322        
515 King Street, Suite 340
                       
Nancy Holtzman, Exec. Director, Alexandria, VA 22314 USA
ACTE               
Phone: 1-703-683-5322

For Immediate Release

MONTREAL, CANADA., April 29, 2002
The Association of Corporate Travel Executives today released its white paper "The Need For Domestic U.S. Airfare Structure Reform: A True Customer-Supplier Partnership," to the media at the outset of the ACTE Global Conference in Montreal, 28-30 April. On 30 April, the white paper will be presented at a General Assembly for discussion and
debate.

The white paper includes:
1) an analysis of the crisis facing the U.S. airline industry;
2) a definition of airfare structure reform;
3) evidence of the need for reform;
4) where reforms are needed;
5) what customers are seeking; and 6) possible paths toward reform. Members of the press can access the white paper at www.btctravelogue.com/pressmontreal.htm.

Customers of the air transportation system seek to partner with airlines to implement reforms. Customers are seeking an airfare structure with the following attributes:

- Simplified Airfare Structure. There are several potential approaches to simplification, and some concepts such as zone, mileage block or per-mile pricing have been tried or investigated in the past.
- Equal Access. Corporations desire the same access to Web Fares as the general public, and the purchase of such airfares to count against contractual obligations with airlines.
- Affordable Airfares. Corporate customers desire a more favorable price to value ratio. The customer's view is that current business airfares are too high and that the pricing model penalizes airlines' best customers.

According to the association's President-Elect, Cheryl Hutchinson, "ACTE believes the basis of airfare reform is the exchange of customer commitments in return for airlines providing the customer with simplified, lower fares. There are several possible paths that could lead toward airfare structure reform that would reduce airline risks and validate the benefits of reform to buyers and sellers alike."

The purpose of the ACTE white paper is to help begin an industry-wide discussion surrounding the current airline financial crisis, and specifically, the need for airfare structure reform. Without airline industry recovery, rental car, hotel, GDS, Travel Management Company and other sectors will not likely fully rebound. The white paper's genesis sprung from regional U.S. Summits ACTE conducted in the aftermath of September 11 to identify strategies and ideas for travel industry recovery.

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Founded in 1988, the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) is a member-driven organisation wholly dedicated to the science of business travel management with an international constituency. ACTE membership totals more than 2,400, including business travel executives in Asia-Pacific, Canada, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Latin America and the United States. The organisation is headquartered in Alexandria, Va., with regional offices located in Brussels, and Singapore. ACTE's web site is www.acte.org.