Partners Observes Growth in Business Travel, too

Positive Balance: Flight Bookings in 2009 Rose 30 Percent Compared to Previous Year

Partners Software has presented a very positive balance of flight bookings for the year 2009: In comparison to the previous year, flight bookings in 2009 via the Low.Fare system were 30 percent higher than in the previous year. The special catalysts of growth were again leisure-travel bookings. However, even business/corporate-travel bookings rose slightly in 2009. For 2010, Partners also expects an increase in all bookings of approximately 30 percent. Among Low.Fare’s major clients are: American Express, Carlson Wagonlit Travel, Ebookers, Hotelplan, HRG, Lufthansa City Center, Studiosus, Thomas Cook and Worldspan.

 

Via Partners’ Low.Fare system, in 2009 approximately two million flight segments have been booked. The percentage of leisure-travel bookings was 56 percent and approximately 44 percent were business/corporate-travel flights. According to divided segments, the growth for leisure-travel bookings was 68 and for business/corporate travel approximately one percent.

 

Currently, Low.Fare is being implemented in approximately 30 countries for business/corporate travel and leisure-travel flights. The system has long since expanded beyond classic low-cost-carrier flights. “Today, our clients book many segments, whether it be to Palma de Mallorca or to Moscow”, so states Partners’ CEO Wolfgang Brinker. In addition to low-cost-carrier flights and leisure travel flight offers, also current fares for regularly scheduled airlines are displayed by the system.

 

Mr. Brinker sees the trend in the business/corporate-travel sector positively: “We are expecting in 2010 an increase of 10 percent for business/corporate travel. In January, some of our larger clients had growths of more than 15 percent compared to the previous year. This is an indicator that the market at least for bookings is increasing, however not for revenue”, Partners’ CEO Wolfgang Brinker assesses the statistics. In January, the growth was 38 percent compared to January 2009, according to Mr. Brinker.

 
Also the relationship between corporate/business-travel and leisure bookings has changed drastically for Partners: two year ago, approximately 80 percent of all Low.Fare bookings came from the business/corporate-travel sector, whereas the statistics have as of today lowered to about 40 percent.

 

Since the beginning of 2004, Low.Fare has developed into one of the most successful international booking systems for all types of flights. Whereas in the beginning approximately 500 reservations per month were executed by the system, monthly the statistics are well into the five-figure range. Low.Fare is being implemented in more than 30 countries at approximately 14,000 work stations.

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