ACAI Atlantic Coast Airlines Holdings (MM)

eLoyalty Helps Independence Air Go Live With New Customer Service Center Teamed With eLoyalty, Independence Air Has Deployed a Multi-site Intelligent Contact Routing & Management System to Provide Customer Service for its New Airline Business LAKE FOREST, Ill., July 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- eLoyalty Corporation (NASDAQ:ELOY), a leading enterprise CRM services and solutions company, today announced that it has helped low-fare airline Independence Air successfully launch a new Converged Internet Protocol (IP) Customer Service Center, which went live on May 19, 2004. The combination of Cisco's IP Contact Center (IPCC) solution and the creation of business processes will position Independence Air to provide superior customer service in the airline industry. The setup and system integration of the IPCC solution takes advantage of call routing capabilities to get contacts to the right center and agent based on expertise and availability. The business processes and procedures were driven by first defining the key operating metrics required for start up, then establishing forecasting, scheduling, reporting, training, and testing with a focus on customer satisfaction. This helped to ensure a successful launch and organizational focus on high satisfaction of customers in their interaction with this new airline as well as efficiency of operations. Independence Air Chairman and CEO Kerry Skeen said, "Partnering with eLoyalty has enabled us to meet our very aggressive launch timeline and get to the business of taking customer calls and making reservations. The initial feedback we are getting from our new customers has been quite positive, and we are continuing to make improvements and to refine our call center program to create even greater customer satisfaction." eLoyalty started working with Independence Air parent company Atlantic Coast Airlines Holdings, Inc. in January 2004, with the focus on implementing the Cisco IPCC solution. During this implementation, the airline decided to leverage eLoyalty's 15 years of contact center consulting to address the operational needs of the new contact center. This additional work included incorporating appropriate management and operating processes to enable the smooth launch of a contact center capable of providing superior customer service within the airline industry. eLoyalty, working very closely with the Independence Air management team, completed the deployment of the integrated system and contact center operation on-time and within budget. About eLoyalty's Converged IP Contact Center Solutions Building on the company's deep knowledge of contact center technologies, infrastructure, and operations, eLoyalty has developed significant expertise in Converged IP Contact Center Solutions. These engagements typically include: -- Developing the business case and migration strategy for IP Contact Center investments -- Reengineering customer interaction processes enabled by the IP Contact Center strategy -- Designing the IP Contact Center solution and architecture -- Implementing IP Contact Center hardware and software platforms -- Integrating these platforms into client's existing technology infrastructure -- Providing training and post implementation 24x7 support and monitoring of IP Contact Center Solutions via its Managed Services operations -- Tracking and analyzing on-going IP Contact Center Solution performance The company believes it is well positioned to take advantage of the expected growth in this market based on its relationship with Cisco Systems, Inc. (one of the leading IP Contact Center technology providers), its proprietary methodology, its deep technical and functional expertise, strong references, and comprehensive Managed Services capabilities. About eLoyalty Corporation eLoyalty is a leading management consulting, systems integration, and managed services company focused on optimizing customer interactions. With professionals in offices throughout North America and Europe, eLoyalty's broad range of enterprise Customer Relationship Management (CRM)-related services and solutions include creating customer strategies; defining technical architectures; selecting, implementing, and integrating best-of-breed CRM software applications; and providing ongoing support for multivendor systems. The combination of eLoyalty's methodologies and technical expertise enables eLoyalty to deliver the tangible economic benefits of customer loyalty for its Global 2000 and government clients. For more information about eLoyalty, visit http://www.eloyalty.com/ or call 877-2ELOYAL. About Independence Air Independence Air is the low-fare airline that makes travel fast and easy for its customers with a customer first attitude, innovative thinking, and a willingness to challenge the status quo. Beginning on June 16th and continuing throughout the summer, Independence Air is launching a schedule of low-fare flights from Washington Dulles to 35 destinations up and down the East Coast and to the Midwest. By summer's end, the airline will offer 300 daily departures from Dulles, making it the largest low-fare hub in America. Parent company Atlantic Coast Airlines, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAI) is based in Dulles, Va. and employs over 4,100 aviation professionals. Later this year, the company plans to change its name to FLYi, Inc, and its ticker symbol to FLYI. ASSUMPTIONS UNDERLYING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS AND FACTORS THAT MAY AFFECT FUTURE RESULTS This news release contains forward-looking statements, including references to plans, strategies, objectives and anticipated future performance and other statements not strictly historical in nature, which are based on current management expectations, forecasts and assumptions. These forward- looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors that might cause such a difference include, among others: the ability to attract new clients and continuation of existing and new business from existing clients; reliance on major clients and suppliers, increasing client concentration and maintenance of good relations with key business partners; risks involving the variability and predictability of the number, size, scope, cost and duration of, and revenue from client engagements, including unanticipated deferrals or cancellations of engagements due to changes in customers' requirements or preferences for the company's services (because the company's business is relationship based, substantially all of the company's customers retain the right to defer or cancel the company's engagement, regardless of whether there is a written contract); management of other risks associated with increasingly complex client projects and new services offerings, including risks involving collection of billed amounts, shifts from time and materials to alternative or value-based pricing and variable employee utilization rates, project personnel costs and project requirements; maintenance of the company's reputation and financial strength to remain competitive; the company's ability to execute its strategy of reducing costs, achieving benefits from cost reduction activities and maintaining a lower cost structure; management of growth and expansion of business with new services offerings and into new markets; continued access to capital resources to meet eLoyalty's operating and financial needs; implementation of appropriate infrastructure in a timely and cost-effective manner; the ability to attract and retain highly skilled employees in a competitive information technology labor market; demand for CRM services and software generally and continuing intense competition in the information technology services industry generally and particularly in the provision of CRM services and software; the rapid pace of technological innovation in the information technology services industry and the ongoing challenge of creating innovative solutions that meet client expectations; risks associated with eLoyalty's global operations; future legislative, regulatory or legal actions affecting the information technology services industry or the protection of eLoyalty's intellectual property rights; the uncertain extent of the current economic recovery and its impact on eLoyalty's financial results; and other general business, capital market and economic conditions and volatility. For further information about these and other risks, see eLoyalty's recent SEC filings, including, without limitation, its most recent annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, as well as those identified under "Risk Factors" in the Registration Statement on Form S-3 filed on September 24, 2002. DATASOURCE: eLoyalty Corporation CONTACT: Timothy Cunningham of eLoyalty Corporation, +1-847-582-7015, Web site: http://www.eloyalty.com/

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