GSA Airline Contracts for Federal Travelers Save Billions

GSA #10179

August 31, 2005
Contact: Viki Reath (202) 501-1231
viki.reath@gsa.gov

Washington, DC –The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) today announced that 13 U.S. airlines won City Pair airline contracts, valued at $1 billion, to provide federal employees traveling on official business with discounted airfares on 4,703 routes.

"For fiscal year 2006, these contracts are expected to save the government more than $2.8 billion," said Acting Commissioner of GSA's Federal Acquisition Service, Barbara Shelton. "It is a remarkable achievement when the airline industry can work together with GSA to provide discounted commercial air passenger transportation services for the federal government."

The one-year, competitive contracts are effective October 1. Non-stop service, a customer preference, was awarded in 1,913 or 95 percent of all markets offering non-stop service.

The new contracts offer continue to offer discounted fares, last available seats, fully refundable tickets and penalty-free cancellations and schedule changes on 3,978 domestic and 725 international routes. Awards were based on average flight time, price, service type, flight distribution and number of flights.

In addition, City Pairs offer two discount fares in more than 2,390 markets. The lower fares are for a limited number of first-come, first-served seats. Examples of the dual fares include:

Awards were made to the following airlines:

All City Pair airline fares are posted at http://apps.fss.gsa.gov/citypairs/search/.

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GSA is a centralized, federal procurement, property management, policy development and information provision agency, created by Congress to improve government efficiency and help federal agencies better serve the public.  In this role, GSA acquires products and services on behalf of federal agencies; plays a key role in developing and implementing government-wide policies; provides services and solutions for the office operations of more than one million federal workers; and encourages a citizen-centric relationship with government by providing a single "point of entry" to the information and services citizens need in a timeframe they can appreciate.  This allows citizens to receive accurate, timely and consistent answers and information, and helps federal agencies better respond to citizen inquiries.