AirPlus Partner Continental Airlines Named OAG Airline Of The Year

AirPlus International congratulates Continental Airlines for being named the 2005 OAG Airline of the Year. Continental received the honor at the OAG Airline of the Year Awards Ceremony that took place in London on 19 May 2005.

“Continental Airlines’ continuous effort to provide world class service and leadership in promoting new technologies making them very deserving of the top honor awarded by OAG,” said Richard Crum, president and CEO, AirPlus International. “We are proud to have such an innovative airline as an AirPlus partner.”

Continental Airlines partnered with AirPlus in January 2004 to offer the Continental Airlines AirPlus Company Account, an air travel payment, billing and reporting system for the airline’s corporate customers.  The Company Account is tailor-made to the unique requirements of each company to enable them to better analyze and control their travel spending by providing detailed and accurate data including company, traveler and trip-specific information, as required by the customer. In addition to making available a robust payment solution to its customers, Continental is substantially reducing its credit card distribution fees with the UATP-based AirPlus product.

This is the second year in a row that Continental has been awarded the airline of the year honor from OAG, a private, U.S.- and U.K.-based provider of flight schedule information. At the OAG award ceremony, where AirPlus sponsored the champagne reception, Continental also received best airline based in North America and best executive/business class airline awards. Award winners are selected on the basis of a worldwide poll of business travelers.

AirPlus International is a global leader in business travel payment solutions, offering central payment accounts, corporate cards and online management information tools. AirPlus is the preferred payment partner of Continental Airlines (NYSE:CAL), Northwest Airlines (NASDAQ: NWAC), British Airways (NYSE:BAB), Lufthansa German Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Swiss International Air Lines, and TAP Portugal. AirPlus is the world’s largest issuer of UATP.