RPT/ebookers.com Sails Into the Cruise Market

Business Wire, Nov 15, 2000

Business Editors

REPEATING...

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 15, 2000

-Agreements made to offer packages from Carnival,

Cunard and Star Cruises-

ebookers.com (Nasdaq: EBKR, Neuer Markt: eb6) Europe's leading online travel company, announced today that it has signed agreements with three major cruise lines, Star Cruises, Cunard and Carnival (NYSE:CCL).

Cruise packages from all three lines will be sold across all of ebookers.com's 11 integrated European operations. ebookers.com has secured negotiated fares at discount rates. ebookers.com is also in negotiation with several other major cruise companies, including Holland America Line.

Carnival Cruise Lines, Cunard Line and Holland America Line, are members of the exclusive World's Leading Cruise Lines alliance, which also includes Seabourn Cruise Line, Costa Cruises and Windstar Cruises. Carnival is the leader in the contemporary market of the cruise industry. Cunard Line is one of the world's most recognized cruise lines and owns the QE2, while Holland America Line leads the cruise industry premium niche. ebookers.com is the first internet travel company to sign an agreement with Cunard.

Star Cruises is the leading cruise line in Asia Pacific. Following its recent acquisition of NCL Holdings, the company is the fourth largest cruise line in the world.

According to the Passenger Shipping Association, the European cruise market is showing strong growth. European bookings increased from 1.64m in 1998 to 1.84m in 1999, a rise of nearly 13%.

Dinesh Dhamija, CEO ebookers.com said:

"ebookers.com already sells significant amounts of packages as part of its huge negotiated fare product range. We also have high-spend customers, who, in the last quarter, spent, on average, $680 per transaction. This is up to twice the amount spent on average by the customers of major competitors. Because of this, we see high-value cruises as being an ideal product for us. They will be marketed across all of our 11 integrated European operations."

About ebookers.com

ebookers.com is a leading online European travel agency offering complete one-stop, online shopping with a host of travel products and services, including negotiated discount airfares with 120 airlines, and discounts with over 14,000 hotels worldwide. ebookers.com is the technology and travel spin-off from Flightbookers plc, the London-based travel agency which in 1996 became the first travel company to establish an interactive website in the UK. The ebookers.com group also established the first interactive travel websites in France and Finland. The company was established as a separate Internet company in June 1999. ebookers.com operates in the following eleven countries: Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. The company completed its initial public offering in November 1999 listing on the NASDAQ and the Neuer Markt in Frankfurt, Germany.

Forward Looking Statements

Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this news release are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward looking statements. Potential risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, the company's ability to identify, acquire and integrate its potential subsidiaries across Europe, its ability to significantly increase its online revenues and sales volumes, to maintain and develop relationships with travel suppliers and strategic partners and to attract and retain customers, potential adverse changes in its gross mark up or in commission rates, unforeseen events affecting the travel industry, and the company's dependence on its ability to establish its brand. These and other risk factors are described in detail in the company's Prospectus dated 11 November 1999, which has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, USA and the German Prospectus dated 11 November 1999, filed with the Neuer Market, of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Germany.