But the industry already had an inkling that something like this was on the cards.
This isn’t about the rumours which emerged in early-January this year, when Orbitz Worldwide executives and attorneys were known to be working feverishly on a major transaction, according to our sources.
Instead, people should cast their minds back to over half a decade ago, in the closing months of 2009, when the scenario being played out in the Expedia-Orbitz deal this week was first mooted.