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Cheapflights.co.uk eyes German and Australian markets

Cheapflights.co.uk aims to launch websites in Germany and Australia to expand its reach as it continues to revamp its UK portal.

The flight price comparison portal already has sites in the US and Canada.

New general manager Francesca Ecsery said: “We’ve at that stage where we can make some bold moves. We have already got a site in the US and Canada and now we are looking to open up in Germany and other places like Australia. We are exporting the business model.”

Meanwhile, the UK site has been improved with changes made to its offer pages, with each airline’s brand now appearing in two places on the page with prices more prominently featured under the carrier’s logo.

“Now there are double the number of places to click through to get that offer. It’s more obvious and it has increased conversions,” added Ecsery.

She admitted there may be opportunities to expand non-flight offers to give further hotel or car hire deals for example.

“Once you are on the site there are cross-sell opportunities. You can search by date for hotels – the question is are we the place for it or just for flights? We want to focus on flights but if it’s valuable to the customer we will do it.”

Ecsery said the site was also focusing on improving its news sections in the form of travel tips, from vaccination requirements to where you can use a mobile phone abroad. “It’s about customer relevance,” she said.

The site now has “critical mass” in terms of advertisers, and online advertising spend continues to increase, she added.

“There is more money online than there was before and thankfully we have got a good proportion of that spend. Out of the top 50 airlines there are only a few we have not got.”

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