A Nielsen/NetRatings survey into the European online travel market shows the industry as a whole grew by 118% in ten months, mainly due to increases in online sales from British Airways, British Midland and Lufthansa. Furthermore, the research shows the airline sector has doubled its online audience since October 2001.

British Airways, Ryanair, and Easyjet have all recorded an increase in audience. In Europe Lufthansa has grown to become the Continent`s leading online airline. Online travel sites such as Expedia, Lastminute.com and Opodo remain popular but have not seen the same level of growth.

Neilsen/NetRatings
European analyst Tom Ewing said the online airline sector had confounded most predictions made at the end of last year. He said European travel sites were recovering from the economic and tourism downturn and the airline sector in particular was “booming”.

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