Travel sellers will gain access to easyJet’s compelling network of destinations, high frequency of routes available, and great value fares, through the Duffel platform.
Duffel and easyJet announce a partnership, bringing the number of airlines available on Duffel’s platform to 25 and increasing the choice and global reach for travel sellers.
In addition to easyJet, Duffel also confirmed airline partnerships recently with Copa Airlines, LATAM, and Qatar Airways, adding to the global coverage already available through American Airlines, British Airways, Emirates, Lufthansa Group, Singapore Airlines, Qantas, United Airlines, and more.
Duffel is a developer-friendly platform that enables new and existing travel sellers to instantly search flights, make bookings, reserve seats, and sell paid extras like checked bags.
easyJet flies on more of Europe’s most popular routes than any other airline, and carried more than 96 million passengers in 2019. The airline operates nearly 1000 routes to more than 150 airports across 35 countries. A partnership between Duffel and easyJet means travel sellers will gain access to the airline’s compelling network of destinations, high frequency of routes available, and great value fares. easyJet was ranked the “Best Low-Cost Airline 2020” by Business Traveller Magazine and as “Britain’s Most Admired Company of 2020” (BMAC) in the transport sector.
Over the past two years, Duffel has experienced strong growth, even amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The company has raised $56.2 million in funding since 2018 and is backed by Index Ventures, Blossom Capital, and Benchmark. During the pandemic, the team tripled in size, and expects to double again by the end of 2021 with a strong focus on engineering. As the travel market begins to recover, Duffel continues to take off with orders increasing more than 3.5X in the past 3 months.
Steve Domin, co-founder and CEO of Duffel said: “Our partnership with easyJet and the remarkable expansion of airlines added to the Duffel platform throughout the pandemic shows how the travel industry has used this time to rebuild, innovate and invest.”
“While the industry is still in the early stages of recovery from the global shockwaves of the COVID-19 virus, we want to support the travel companies that have survived the past year to emerge even stronger.
“We’re encouraged by the continued growth in signups and orders we’re seeing from travel sellers using Duffel, and we know adding airline partners like easyJet creates even more value for anyone looking to start selling travel quickly and easily.”
Antonio Pascale, easyJet’s Distribution and Alliances Manager, said: “We are pleased to partner with Duffel to connect even faster with more travel sellers around the world. Duffel offers an exciting opportunity for easyJet to reach new, non-traditional and established sellers whilst being able to sell our ancillary products effectively.”
Alongside the ability to search and book flights, travel sellers can manage cancellations and refunds via Duffel as well. In the past year, Duffel also added the functionality to select seats and manage paid extras like baggage. Duffel is continuing to focus on broadening its capabilities and plans to roll out flight changes, private fares, and loyalty programmes soon.
Another area impacting travel sellers is the increased cost of new Global Distribution System (GDS) surcharges and the unpredictability of contract renewals with airlines and large GDSs like Sabre and Amadeus. Travel sellers are being pushed to explore new options to save on surcharges or access content from major airlines in a short window of time. Duffel uses New Distribution Capability (NDC) content, which eliminates the risk of GDS surcharges and enables a better travel booking experience. In addition, Duffel can be integrated quickly and easily, and requires no setup fees, removing the risks typically associated with integrating with a new provider.
“Duffel was the best partner to take our business to market quickly and effectively. We integrated in less than a week and with a single developer, getting us immediate access to the best airline inventory possible” says Antonia San Martin, CEO Milla Travel.
Tatiana is the news coordinator for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). Her role includes monitoring the hundreds of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skimming the most important according to our strategy.
She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication & Mass Media from Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens and she has been editor and editor-in-chief in various economic magazines and newspapers.
