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To: midtownmurphy who wrote (65496)	9/29/2000 9:57:41 AM
From: john	Respond to of 150070

(COMTEX) B: Seventeen Airports Consider Routing Web Traffic to Single B: Seventeen Airports Consider Routing Web Traffic to Single Site Sep. 27 (The Dallas Morning News/KRTBN)--Seventeen airports -- including Dallas/Fort Worth International -- are considering joining forces to create a one-stop Web site for air travelers. The idea, announced Tuesday by London airport owner BAA PLC, would allow users to look up the layout of terminals, get information on parking and possibly purchase airline tickets and reserve rental cars -- all through one proposed Web site: www.worldairports.com. D/FW officials have not decided whether to join such a venture, said Kevin Cox, the airport's senior vice president. "We're interested in looking at it," he said. In fact, none of the 17 airports -- including Houston's Bush Intercontinental, Hobby Airport and Ellington Field -- has signed on with BAA to open up the site. They've agreed only to look into such an undertaking. BAA owns London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports, among others. The former British Airports Authority turned private in 1987. If BAA moves forward, the venture could be the first time a group of airports has banded together for a single Internet site. It also could help customers wade through the cumbersome Web addresses many airports use. In the United States, airports are owned and operated by cities or governmental authorities, as is D/FW. Because of those ties, many are wedded to knotty Internet addresses. Customers wanting information about Houston's Bush Intercontinental, for example, have to go to www.ci.houston.tx.us/has/iah.html. "If we have a better mousetrap, then from a marketing standpoint, the world will be able to pass through your door," said Hoyt Brown, Houston Airport System's deputy director of aviation. While some addresses are simpler, the uninitiated could spend a lot of time with search engines before locating the desired airport link, even one as easy as www.dfwairport.com. "If you put 'DFW' in a search engine, you can get all kinds of things back," Mr. Cox said. While the Web site could help travelers navigate when they land in an unfamiliar airport, OneTravel.com's airline expert, Terry Trippler, found the venture a little too "gimmicky." "I can see this as helping," he said. "But I can't see that it's helping enough people to warrant it." He wants to see airlines and airports focus on cutting delays, not inventing more marketing tools. But airport officials say that's not their purpose. The new venture would simply bring airports and their services to one place for consumers. "Worldairports.com is not designed to address those infrastructure issues," Mr. Cox said. "What this is designed to do is to provide information to the consumer and to provide a portal for a variety of consumer-related activities." The other facilities that have agreed to explore such a venture are Paris' Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports; airports in Copenhagen, Denmark, Melbourne, Australia, Pittsburgh and Indianapolis; and BAA's Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Southampton, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen airports in Great Britain. By Terri Langford -0-