HP to design airline reservations system

American Airlines said Hewlett-Packard Co. would design a computerized system for reservations, pricing and ticketing that could become the industry standard.

The companies signed a letter of intent to develop the program, called Jetstream, in the next four years.

Jetstream is intended to improve efficiency and consistency, reducing operating costs.

Hewlett-Packard would be able to sell the system to other airlines, capitalizing on the Palo Alto computer company’s $13.2-billion purchase a year ago of services giant Electronic Data Systems Corp.

American, a unit of Fort Worth-based AMR Corp., more than 45 years ago pioneered the first airline reservation system, which is still used by most carriers.