Delta Air Lines announced today
that it has been awarded a multi-year airport services contract by its
SkyTeam alliance partner Alitalia. Beginning today, Delta’s Airport
Customer Service division will provide integrated airport services, such
as customer check-in, ramp handling and facility sharing to Alitalia at
Newark Liberty International Airport. This is Delta’s first airport services insourcing deal with Alitalia. The
carrier will handle Alitalia’s daily flights to Rome and Milan.

“We are pleased to have been selected to provide airport handling services
by a key member of our global alliance,” said Rich Cordell, senior vice
president-Airport Customer Service. “We look forward to strengthening our
relationship with Alitalia through this agreement, a vote of confidence in
the hard work our people have done. Our teams are committed to delivering
operational and service excellence that benefits our customers.”

Delta also provides airport services in the United States to other SkyTeam
alliance partners including Aeromexico, Air France and Korean Air.
Insourcing of airport ground handling services is a growing business for
Delta. The carrier earned more than $160 million in revenue from airport
insourcing contracts in 2003, an increase of seven percent from the
previous year and nearly 22 percent from 2001. Of this amount, Delta
earned $26 million by providing service to its SkyTeam partners.

Delta’s Airport Customer Service division, staffed by more than 16,000
customer service and ramp agent professionals, provides complete
passenger, aircraft and ground handling services to more than 70 airlines
in more than 80 airport locations around the world. The airline also
recently won ground handling contracts with codeshare partner China
Airlines in Seattle and Houston.

Delta is a founding member of SkyTeam, the global airline alliance which
includes Aeromexico, Air France, Alitalia, CSA Czech Airlines and Korean
Air. Alitalia, with a fleet of 185 aircraft, is one of the world’s top 20
airlines and operates more than 700 passenger flights per day to 90 cities
in 50 countries. More on Alitalia’s programs, routes, frequency and
partners is available at http://www.alitalia.it/
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