TELECOMWORLDWIRE-24 January 2002-European airlines launch online travel agency (C)1994-2002 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD http://www.m2.com

Nine European airlines have launched an online travel agency - Opodo - which aims to offer low-cost travel tickets combined with high levels of customer service.

Aer Lingus, Air France, Alitalia, Austrian Airlines, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia, KLM and Lufthansa were given permission to launch the agency by the European Commission on 20 November 2001. The airlines, which have previously launched the German language version of the web site, began operating the main English language site - http://www.opodo.co.uk - yesterday (23 January).

The airlines plan to launch a French language site during 2Q'2002.

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