Orbitz Hurt by Airline Dispute, Wants Deal

Online travel agency Orbitz Worldwide OWW, reeling from its spat with American Airlines AMR over a distribution method, reported a wider quarterly loss and forecast first-quarter revenue below analysts' expectations, sending its shares down as much as 8 percent. Orbitz said its U.S. leisure business is being hurt by the absence of American Airlines from Orbitz.com and Orbitzforbusiness.com sites, and reduced transaction share from travel site Kayak.com. The dispute between American Airlines and Orbitz Worldwide arose when Orbitz refused to use American's direct connect link and the airline stopped selling its tickets on Orbitz sites in December. "While we have been able to recapture much of the American Airlines ticket volume, nearly half, by shifting business to other airlines, we are still feeling some impact," Orbitz Chief Executive Barney Harford said on a conference call with analysts. Continue reading the article.