Webjet (WEB) today announced that it has entered into a series of agreements which will lead to the commencement of Operations in North America in early 2010.
Commenting, Webjet MD David Clarke said “We are excited to advise, that after an extensive analysis of off shore regions as foreshadowed in our ASX announcement of 06 August 2009, we have completed agreements which will see WEBJET commence operations on WEBJET.COM early next year.
The operation will take the form of a 50% joint venture in conjunction with Mathias Friess, formerly General Manager Global Sales and Distribution of the Virgin Blue Group of Airlines and previously Head of Sales North America for Lufthansa. He also has extensive knowledge of the Latin America markets gathered during his tenure as Country Manager for Argentina, Chile and Uruguay for Lufthansa. The joint venture will acquire the business assets but no liabilities of two existing websites Farecrawler.com and Whentofly.com. Webjet’s equity and funding will be limited to $1million dollars US with appropriate currency protections. Webjet.com will focus on long haul leisure travel from North America to Australia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America and Asia. The joint venture will initially be constructed as close as possible to a virtual organisation to ensure lowest possible fixed costs.
Tags: Expansion, Joint Venture, WEB, Webjet
