...Orbitz, the new online travel agency that is owned by the country's five largest airlines, will officially open its virtual front door for business. Then the world will finally begin to find out whether Orbitz is the Standard Oil of online travel, as its critics have charged, or just another Web site that sells airplane tickets.

In the meantime, the new competition should prove to be a bonanza for travelers. "Price wars are always great for consumers, and new entrants always start price wars," said Albert A. Foer, president of the American Antitrust Institute, a nonprofit organization in Washington that has raised objections to Orbitz. "But the question is: How long will this go on?"
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/27/travel/27REP.html