Aeroxchange Processes First Integrated e-Procurement Transaction.

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 10, 2001

Aeroxchange, a leading aviation e-commerce marketplace, today announced completion of its first fully integrated e-procurement transaction, with founding airline and trading partner Cathay Pacific Airways. This important milestone marks the first transaction using Aeroxchange's e-procurement product to provide a direct link with the back-end office systems of Aeroxchange trading partners.

"Our products have been active since February 1, 2001, but before this integration, orders processed over the Internet actually had to be re-entered into the carriers' procurement systems," said R. Terrence Rendleman, Aeroxchange's president and CEO. "Our integrated e-Procurement product brings end-to-end automation of procurement and purchasing processes, allowing airlines and suppliers to increase the efficiency of their operations and to reduce their costs. This integration will serve as the model for integrating the existing procurement systems of all of our trading partners."

Aeroxchange has worked closely with Cathay Pacific Airways to integrate its Oracle-based platform with Cathay's CXeBuy system. "Cathay Pacific is committed to e-procurement as part of our strategy to better manage our supply chain and maximize our operations," said Robert Lamoureux, who led the integration at Cathay Pacific. "Aeroxchange's e-procurement product allows us to achieve process efficiency by eliminating the need to issue and receive paper purchase orders. Electronic invoicing is the next step. Aeroxchange helps us connect directly to our key suppliers electronically. This improves the process for all parties."

Cathay Pacific Airways, as a founding member of Aeroxchange, has been very active in reengineering their business processes to take advantage of e-commerce opportunities. In addition to becoming the first airline to fully integrate onto Aeroxchange, they have participated in several Cooperative Purchasing events and also are working to enhance their internal CXeBuy system. "E-Procurement is a reality for Cathay Pacific. We are using it for our four largest non-technical spend areas and will be expanding over time. We believe the process efficiencies and more intelligent purchasing will literally save us millions of dollars," said Mr. Lamoureux.

The e-procurement purchase by Cathay Pacific was 100 items across nine part numbers from Wencor West, an airline parts manufacturer and distributor. Aeroxchange worked with trading partner Wencor West to load their catalogue onto the exchange. "We've been committed to e-commerce for over two years," said Russ Adamson, vice president of sales and marketing at Wencor West. "We see Aeroxchange as a sales and marketing channel that compliments our own Internet site. They also fit well into our strategy of helping to reduce transaction costs for us and our customers."

In addition to processing orders over their Internet site www.wencor.com, Wencor also allows their customers to check order status and see inventory in all stocking locations, including newly acquired Dixie Aerospace. They are also moving part certification documentation online to save time and money in the ordering process.

"This first step with Cathay Pacific and Wencor West is core to our mission at Aeroxchange," said Richard Hendrickson, Senior Director of e-Procurement at Aeroxchange. "Companies today spend between $50 and $150 to manually process an order through to completion. Aeroxchange's e-Procurement product is automating this process by allowing our trading partners systems to talk to each other. This communication process eliminates the need to process paper, faxes, e-mails and phone calls, saving time and money for our trading partners. We are continuing our efforts to both integrate more partners and bring more catalogues of key suppliers online."

About Aeroxchange

Aeroxchange is a global e-commerce marketplace dedicated to transforming the complex aviation industry supply chain by integrating buyers and sellers to increase transactional efficiencies and facilitate information transparency. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas USA, Aeroxchange formally began operations in October 2000 under the direction of 13 founding airlines in North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Aeroxchange also has affiliate agreements with 18 additional air carriers. Since the introduction of its first-to-market series of products on February 1, 2001, Aeroxchange trading partners have used its e-Procurement, Inventory and Maintenance Marketplaces and Cooperative Purchasing and Self-Serve Auctions for Internet procurement of aviation goods and services.

Founding Airlines -- Air Canada, All Nippon Airways, America West Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways, FedEx, Japan Airlines, Lufthansa German Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines and Singapore Airlines. Other confirmed participating airlines with equity participation include Air New Zealand, Austrian Airlines Group and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.

Affiliate Airlines -- Air India, bmi british midland, China Airlines, Egypt Air, EVA, Gulf Air, Icelandair, Kuwait Airways, Mexicana Airlines, Middle East Airlines, Qatar Airways, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Royal Jordanian, Syrian Air, Thai Airways, TransAvia, Varig and Virgin Atlantic.