Orbitz Worldwide Inc reported a first-quarter net loss of $15 million, or 18 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $10 million a year earlier before the company issued shares.

Published: 08 May 2008

Orbitz Worldwide Inc reported a first-quarter net loss of $15 million, or 18 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $10 million a year earlier before the company issued shares.

The online travel company's net revenue increased to $219 million for the first quarter of 2008, up 3% from $212 million for the first quarter of 2007.

Steven Barnhart, CEO and president of Orbitz Worldwide said the company had anticipated that the first quarter of 2008 would be a difficult comparison against a very strong 2007 first quarter

He said Orbitz has plans to launch a new functionality on its domestic sites and support it with a new advertising campaign.

"Thus we expect both topline and bottomline growth to accelerate through the balance of 2008. We are excited about these new features, which we believe will offer real value to our customers, strengthen the position of Orbitz.com and Cheaptickets.com as the best places to search for and book travel, and re-ignite growth in our domestic business. Consumers have indicated that they still intend to enjoy their summer vacations, and we believe these new tools will help price-conscious consumers find and purchase the best travel values," said Barnhart.

"In the first quarter, we continued to pursue our key initiatives of expanding our presence in rapidly growing international markets and building our non-air businesses," added Barnhart. The company is

on track to move the balance of its e-bookers sites onto its new global platform by the end of this year. It also continues to add to its global sourcing team and build direct relationships with more hotels.

For the first quarter of 2008, Orbitz Worldwide's gross bookings were $2.9 billion, equal to the first quarter of 2007. International gross bookings were $488 million, an increase of 41% (28% after adjusting for the impact of foreign currency fluctuations). Domestic gross bookings declined 6% for the first quarter of 2008 to $2.4 billion, with price increases more than offset by declines in transaction levels for both air and non-air bookings.