Nine of Europe`s leading airlines last Tuesday unveiled plans to move into the online travel market with the launch later this year of a new online travel service…
Nine of Europe`s leading airlines last Tuesday unveiled plans to move into the online travel market with the launch later this year of a new online travel service, selling flights and other travel products direct to the consumer.
The new travel portal, named
Opodo will offer consumers a range of competitively priced travel products including flights from over 480 airlines, hotel bookings from over 54,500 hotel properties, 23,500 car rental locations worldwide as well as travel insurance. The company aims to differentiate itself from other travel providers by delivering a truly personal, 24-hour service, seven days a week.
Headquartered in London, Opodo will operate independently from its airline shareholders, under the terms set out in the company`s joint venture agreement. It plans to launch initially in Germany, the UK and France, and later across Europe, between 2002 and 2003.
In February 2001, the company appointed the former Alitalia CEO, Giovanni Bisignani, as Chief Executive Officer and aims to recruit over a 100 permanent staff by the end of the year. CEO, Giovanni Bisignani said: Opodo will give consumers a wealth of local knowledge and our aim is to utilise this experience to make Opodo the number one online destination in Europe for online travel bookings. Opodo aims to be a low cost distribution channel with the objective of providing consumers with choice and low fares.
Europe has for some time lagged behind the US for online travel bookings and we believe that Europe is about to witness an explosion in demand for online travel services surpassing US growth by as early as 2004.
Nicolas de Santis, Marketing Director for Opodo, said: In what is a crowded market, Opodo`s aim is to stand out from other competitors as a trustworthy brand that caters for the individual travel needs of consumers in a personal and innovative way. Our site and product offering will be a tangible manifestation of our brand values.
Giovanni Bisignani has recruited a world class management team to run the different company departments with Nicolas De Santis as Marketing Director; Matthew Noghani as Director of Technology, Simon Tucker as Chief Financial Officer; Eifrion Evans as Director of Business Development; Vincent Bourke as Operations Director and Jill Durham as Legal counsel.
In addition, Bisignani has assembled a team of market leading suppliers to help build Opodo into one of Europe`s leading online travel portals, including Amadeus, TRX Inc, Energis
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