Cyprus Airways has selected technology from GetThere, a Sabre Company, to power its new online booking site. The carrier last week named GetThere as a principal supplier in an e-commerce initiative to broaden distribution and reduce sales costs.

The first phase of the project is already complete and enables the airline to process online bookings made in Cyprus. Phase two, targeted for completion later this year, will involve developing specialised local booking sites, using local currencies, for the British, other European Union, Swiss, Middle East and Arabian Gulf markets. All of these will be powered by the GetThere DirectAirline Internet booking engine, and will be accessed seamlessly from the main Cyprus Airways web-site.

Students are one of the airline’s most important customer groups, and booking sites will include a section dedicated to Cyprus Airways’ student fares.

“Cyprus Airways’ online booking strategy is driven largely by the profile of these younger customers”, said Richard Adams, GetThere`s

general manager and vice president for Europe.

“While business travellers and younger leisure travellers obviously have vastly different travel profiles, these two groups in particular are driving significant European growth in online travel booking”.

Cyprus Airways undertook a 12-month evaluation of the products and services from potential technology partners, before selecting GetThere for the contract. Speaking last week in Nikosia at the launch of the e-commerce initiative, Cyprus Airways’ chief information officer, Christos Ellinides, said the project would expand direct sales and streamline the airline’s fulfillment operation by minimising the ‘hands-on’ component of ticket distribution.

The GetThere DirectAirline Internet booking engine powers the online booking sites of several major airlines worldwide, including Alitalia, Cathay Pacific, All Nippon Airways and United Airlines. Cyprus Airways is the third airline from the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region to use the product.

 

 

Related stories on ITN:

(25/11/2002) KPMG Deploys GetThere to Save £1m on Travel Annually

 

 

(30/10/2002) GetThere Survey Illustrates How Online Technology Can Cut Costs

(15/10/2002) GetThere Signs Online Booking Agreement with United

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