Former Expedia Execs Plan Travel Startup

TechFlash reports: Rich Barton helped transform the way consumers book airfare, hotels and rental cars on the Web. Now, the former Expedia CEO is jumping back into the online travel game.

Earlier this year, we reported that Barton joined forces with VacationSpot.com co-founder and former general manager of Microsoft's travel group, Greg Slyngstad, on a new startup. At the time, Barton - who retains the CEO post at Zillow.com and serves as a venture partner at Benchmark Capital - didn't want to say too much about what they were up to.

But now more details are emerging. And it looks like Barton is assembling some of his old cronies from the early days of Expedia to create a new brand in the travel space. That new startup (at least for now) is dubbed NewTravelco. And its team not only includes Barton and Slyngstad, but former Expedia veterans such as Simon Breakwell and Sunil Shah.

Could this be an Expedia killer? Barton wouldn't provide details, saying the company plans to launch its service later this year. But the Internet entrepreneur -- who is serving as non executive chairman at NewTravelco - admits that the pressure will be on given the enormous success of Expedia.