Russian market grows by 328%; Skyscanner achieves number one position in both Russia and Italy

Leading flight search site Skyscanner today announced 70% year on year growth in revenue for the last quarter of 2010.

Overseas markets account for much of the company’s success. While Skyscanner continues to see very strong growth in the UK, international users now account for 73% of the total visits to the Skyscanner site as other markets grow rapidly.

Markets that are growing very strongly include Italy, Russia, Spain and France.  In both Italy and Russia, Skyscanner has secured the market leading position for flight search and Russia has seen a substantial increase in visitor numbers – up 328% year on year.

“Over the last year we have seen excellent growth in overseas markets,” said Skyscanner CEO Gareth Williams, “This is a key strategic goal.  Many companies find that internationalisation is very difficult in online travel, so when we started Skyscanner we set out to make sure the site performs well at a global level from the outset - building comprehensive flight coverage in all European markets as well as solving the language and currency issues.

Dmitry Konovalov, Skyscanner’s Country Manager for Russia added, “The online travel industry in Russia is still in its relative infancy, comparatively speaking, but is moving at an incredible pace as more Russians are happy to booking their flights and hotels independently of travel agencies.  This, combined with more destinations relaxing their visa requirements for Russian tourists, means that the online travel industry is likely to continue to grow and Skyscanner is perfectly positioned to take advantage of these trends.”

Williams concluded, “We are now working to leverage the strong performance in our core markets to continue building momentum, both by growing visitor numbers and by adding to our fast expanding network of direct connect commercial partnerships with airlines, online travel agents and other travel companies throughout the world. I am particularly delighted that conversion rates from the Skyscanner site are at an all-time high – we are achieving downstream revenues of over a billion dollars a year for commercial partners, which helpfully creates a very convincing case for new potential partnerships!”