Cheapflights is a travel fare metasearch engine. The website is part of the Kayak.com subsidiary of Booking Holdings.
![]() | |
Type of site | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Available in | English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Turkish, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Russian, Dutch, Czech, Finnish, Polish, Romanian, Ukrainian and Chinese |
Founded | 1996 U.S. company: March 21, 2003 |
Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
Founder(s) | John Hatt David Soskin |
Key people | |
Industry | Travel |
Parent | Booking Holdings |
URL | www www www |
Its websites publish flight prices, and compare prices from suppliers, including major airlines, through tiny travel agents.[1]
Agents advertise on the Cheapflights websites and are charged on a pay-per-click basis for users who link through to their websites.[2]
History
editCheapflights was founded in 1996 by John Hatt.[3] That year, its first website, www.cheapflights.co.uk, launched.[4] In 2000, ex-ABN Amro banker David Soskin and Hugo Burge led a buyout of the website from its founder.[3][5][6] The website was the first in the UK to launch the pay-per-click online advertising remuneration model.[4]
In May 2003, the US website, www.cheapflights.com, was launched.[4] In 2006, the website handled £1 billion in annual travel sales.[7] In April 2007, the Canadian website, www.cheapflights.ca, was launched.[4] In October 2008, the first non-English website, www.cheapflug.de, was launched.[4] Co-founder David Soskin resigned as chief executive to become vice-chairman that same year.[3] In 2009, the Australia / New Zealand website was launched.[8]
In January 2011, the company launched mobile websites.[9] In March 2011, the company acquired momondo, a rival online travel agency.[10][11] The two websites and brands were kept independent of each other.[12] It also discontinued Zugu.[13] In October 2014, Great Hill Partners, a private-equity firm, invested £80m for a majority stake in the company that owned Cheapflights and momondo, valuing it at £132 million.[14][15] In February 2015, the South African website was launched.[16] In June 2015, the United Kingdom website was launched as a metasearch engine.[17] In June 2016, Cheapflights added search capability within Facebook Messenger.[18] In October, Cheapflights reorganized some of its staff.[19] In July 2017, Cheapflights and momondo were acquired by Booking Holdings for $550 million.[20]
References
edit- ^ Dunlop, Michael. "David Soskin Interview – Serial Entrepreneur and Investor". Income Diary.
- ^ Tedeschi, Bob (28 August 2005). "Finding Air-Fare Gold in the Internet Maze". The New York Times.
- ^ a b c Kleinman, Mark; White, Dominic (9 March 2008). "Cheapflights co-founder hands over controls". The Daily Telegraph.
- ^ a b c d e "Cheapflights Launches New Website for Australia and New Zealand cheapflights.com.au" (Press release). Business Wire. April 15, 2009.
- ^ Hayhurst, Lee (10 October 2011). "'Everything to play for': Hugo Burge on Cheapflights' present and future". Travolution.
- ^ Savage, Rachel (18 July 2014). "Cheapflights' owner flies in a £150m sale". Haymarket Media Group.
- ^ Martinson, Jane (30 October 2006). "Diller plans to buy up British travel websites". The Guardian.
- ^ "Cheapflights Launches Australia/NZ Website" (Press release). Scoop. 15 April 2009.
- ^ Schaal, Dennis (January 14, 2011). "Cheapflights gets inspirational and mobile". Phocuswire.
- ^ Wauters, Robin (29 March 2011). "Cheapflights invests in travel meta-search site Momondo". TechCrunch.
- ^ Fox, Linda (12 November 2012). "Momondo name to carry Cheapflights into non-English speaking territories". Phocuswire.
- ^ Schaal, Dennis (14 May 2014). "CEO Interview: Cheapflights and Momondo Attempt a Dual-Brand Strategy". Skift.
- ^ May, Kevin (March 29, 2011). "Cheapflights invests in Momondo, axes Zugu". Phocuswire.
- ^ "Great Hill Partners Acquires a Majority Stake in Momondo" (Press release). Great Hill Partners. 17 October 2014.
- ^ Armstrong, Ashley (17 October 2014). "Cheapflights owner receives £80m cash boost from Boston-based investor". The Daily Telegraph.
- ^ "Cheapflights launches in SA". Traveller 24. February 24, 2015.
- ^ May, Kevin (24 June 2015). "Goodbye, deals - Cheapflights switches to metasearch after 19 years". Phocuswire.
- ^ May, Kevin (June 14, 2016). "Cheapflights puts flight and hotel search into Facebook Messenger". Phocuswire.
- ^ Whyte, Patrick (14 October 2016). "Momondo Group Makes Changes at Cheapflights Operation". Skift.
- ^ "The Priceline Group Completes the Acquisition of Momondo Group" (Press release). PR Newswire. 24 July 2017.