Cheapflights

Cheapflights
Industry Flight Search Engine and travel information
Founded 1996
Founder John Hatt
Headquarters London, England
Key people

Hugo Burge, CEO

Andrew Shelton, Managing Director
Owner Momondo Group
Website www.cheapflights.co.uk

Cheapflights is a travel metasearch engine which compares flight prices from thousands of airlines and online travel agents. Established in 1996, Cheapflights was the first flight search and comparison website.[1][2] The company is headquartered in London with an additional office in Boston, and is owned by Copenhagen-based Momondo Group.

History

Cheapflights was founded in 1996[3] by former travel journalist John Hatt.[4][5][6] Following a management buy-in in early 2000 by entrepreneurs David Soskin and Hugo Burge, Cheapflights introduced the pay-per-click (PPC) online advertising remuneration model.[4][5][6][1]

The company launched its US site in May 2003.[3][6][1][5] In 2005, Cheapflights launched its travel blog.[5] By 2006, Cheapflights made £1 billion in travel sales annually.[7] Cheapflights launched its site in Canada in April 2007.[3][1] In 2008, the UK site was relaunched with new technology.[5][8][9]

In 2011, Cheapflights Media Ltd purchased Copenhagen-based meta-search site Momondo and its parent company Skygate International.[10] In 2012, the company underwent a corporate rebranding, adopting the name Momondo Group, as part of its stated strategy to move into more non-English-speaking markets. The company also announced expansion into Australia, and in April 2013, launched a country-specific Cheapflights site in New Zealand.[11][12][13] Cheapflights began introducing its new meta-search site which replaced the company's previous search technology.[14]

In October 2014, Boston-based private equity fund Great Hill Partners invested £80 million in Cheapflights' parent company, Momondo Group.[15] Cheapflights launched its South African site in February 2015,[16] and expanded its meta-search technology to the UK site in June 2015.[14]

The company recorded 500,000 users across its websites in one day in January 2016.[17] In February 2016, Cheapflights updated its website and app with personalization tools used to save preferences. At that time, the mobile application was being downloaded 200,000 times per month.[18][19]

Operations

Cheapflights is a publishing platform for flight prices, which compares up-to-date prices arranged by destination from suppliers including major airlines through tiny travel agents.[20] The company uses pay-per-click and display advertising.[5] Agents advertise on the Cheapflights website and are charged on a pay-per-click basis for users who link through to their websites.[21][22]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Cheapflights Shortlisted In Travolution Awards 2008; Best Meta Search/Price Comparison Category". Presswire. April 1, 2008.
  2. ↑ "Cheapflights". The Sunday Times. September 25, 2005.
  3. 1 2 3 Richard Simpson (June 7, 2007). "Cheapflights awards revamp of digital marketing strategy to GT". New Media Age.
  4. 1 2 Rachel Savage (July 18, 2014). "Cheapflights' owner flies in a £150m sale". Management Today. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Cheapflights to Use 'wizards' to target mailings help net users". Travel Trade Gazette UK & Ireland (2985). December 8, 2011.
  6. 1 2 3 Matthew Wall (September 27, 2007). "Floating away". New Media Age.
  7. ↑ Jane Martinson (October 30, 2006). "Diller plans to buy up British travel websites". The Guardian. Retrieved March 17, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Cheapflights.co.uk". Revolution. June 2009.
  9. ↑ Chris Gray (May 23, 2008). "Cheapflights set to expand". Travel Trade Gazette UK & Ireland (2818).
  10. ↑ Cheapflights.com Invests in Momondo and parent company Skygate Cheapflights.com 2011-3-29
  11. ↑ Cheapflights Launches New Zealand Website ASIATravelTips.com 3-4-2013
  12. ↑ Dennis Schaal (May 14, 2014). "CEO Interview: Cheapflights and Momondo Attempt a Dual-Brand Strategy". Skift. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
  13. ↑ Russell Parsons (April 25, 2014). "Cheapflights ups brand building efforts to support international expansion". Marketing Week.
  14. 1 2 "Cheapflights switches to meta model in the UK to bring back enjoyment of travel booking". Travolution. June 24, 2015. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
  15. ↑ Ashley Armstrong (October 17, 2014). "Cheapflights owner receives £80m cash boost from Boston-based investor". Telegraph. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
  16. ↑ "Cheapflights launches in SA". Traveller 24. February 24, 2015. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
  17. ↑ "Cheapflights sees busiest ever day with over 500,000 hits". Travolution. January 5, 2016. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
  18. ↑ "Cheapflights invests for growth". Travel Mole. February 12, 2016. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
  19. ↑ "Cheapflights". The Sun. February 1, 2016. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
  20. ↑ Michael Dunlop. "David Soskin Interview – Serial Entrepreneur and Investor". Income Diary. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
  21. ↑ Samantha Mayling (January 27, 2006). "Cheapflights boasts about its weblog". Travel Trade Gazette UK & Ireland (2702).
  22. ↑ Bob Tedeschi (August 28, 2005). "Finding Air-Fare Gold in the Internet Maze". The New York Times. Retrieved March 17, 2016.

External links

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