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Travel Search Site Skyscanner Sets Sights on Singapore as Growth Takes off In Asia Pacific

Dépèche transmise le 26 juin 2011 par Business Wire

Travel Search Site Skyscanner Sets Sights on Singapore as Growth Takes off In Asia Pacific

EDINBURGH, Scotland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Leading travel search site Skyscanner today announced turnover of £15.2 million – a year on year revenue increase of 75% – for the financial year ending May 31^st 2011.

“While online travel companies find internationalisation tough, we’re confident about the scalability of our business model. Skyscanner was designed from the outset to perform well at a global level – building comprehensive flight coverage through direct airline connections, as well as solving language and currency issues.”

With sessions for the year of 130 million (up 44%), Skyscanner’s fast growth trajectory continues, paving the way for plans unveiled today to build on the company’s success in Asia and the Pacific Rim by opening a new regional operation based in Singapore in September.

“We’re very excited about this move,” said Ewan Gray, newly appointed Regional Director for Asia Pacific. “We’re seeing exceptionally strong growth in these markets which has largely been organic to date – in countries such as Singapore, China, Indonesia, Japan, India and Malaysia, we’re already seeing yearly increases in traffic of up to 90%.

“However, the huge scale of these markets, combined with their sophistication and speed of growth presents a particular set of technical and business challenges and very specific customer requirements.

“While online travel companies find internationalisation tough, we’re confident about the scalability of our business model. Skyscanner was designed from the outset to perform well at a global level – building comprehensive flight coverage through direct airline connections, as well as solving language and currency issues.”

The fast pace of international expansion accounts for the majority of Skyscanner’s growth in the last three years, fuelled by highly profitable core markets and a rapidly expanding network of direct commercial partnerships with airlines, online travel agents and other travel companies throughout the world.

In his former role as Head of Sales at Skyscanner, Gray has played a large part in driving that growth. He continued: “The relationships we have with airlines and OTAs are incredibly important to us and are founded on sending them highly qualified referrals from customers confident they have found the best flight deal available. We’re looking forward to providing this region with dedicated support to capitalise on its potential, building our position as one of the world’s leading travel search sites.”

In addition to Gray, other key appointments for the new Singapore operation have been made, including Yi Bao, formerly a member of the core team at travel start-up Zoombu, acquired by Skyscanner at the end of 2010. Yi Bao is taking up the role of Market Development Manager for China. Recruitment is underway for other key market development roles.

ENDS

About Skyscanner

Skyscanner is Europe’s leading travel search site providing instant online comparisons on millions of flight prices for over 600 airlines. Founded in 2001 by three IT professionals, Gareth Williams, Barry Smith and Bonamy Grimes, Skyscanner traffic to the site comes from 244 countries and territories worldwide. With more than 14 million users per month, Skyscanner generates downstream revenues of over one billion dollars every year.