EasyJet pushes 90% of ticket sales onto Web

Discounts and not advertising phone number

By Robert Blincoe • Get more from this author

Posted in e-Business, 9th May 2001 12:02 GMT

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EasyJet, the budget airline, boosted online booking to 89.2 per cent of its total sales last month.

A year earlier it was managing to get 64.3 per cent of ticket sales booked on the Web.

Customers have been pushed to carry out online business with EasyJet by: £2.50 discounts per flight; being unable to book a month in advance unless its via EasyJet.com; and by not advertising its call centre phone number.

EasyJet seems to be handling ebusiness development better than some other players in the travel market.
The FT reports British Airways sells between three and four per cent of its tickets via the Web.

And yesterday online bucket shop Lastminute.com announced it would be profitable within 12 months. For the quarter ended 31 March 2001, the company recorded a pre-tax loss of £14.3 million compared to £11.0 million during the same period last year. Turnover increased sharply from £834,000 in Q2 last year to £4.1million, and it reckons that with £60 million still in the bank from its float last year that it will have enough cash see it through the year.

EasyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou is valued at £873 million in the Sundat Times Rich List. ®