EasyJet Holidays will launch to the trade next year, the boss of its airline has revealed.
EasyJet Holidays has previously vowed to become a “major player” in the holiday market when it relaunches to consumers later this year.
It has brought in a number of former Tui executives to run the holidays division, including Garry Wilson who was made chief executive last year.
EasyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren told delegates at this year’s ITT conference in Split: “We recognise the value of the trade and Garry is having those discussions with people in this room and looking to launch to the trade next year.
“The focus we have right now is getting ourselves ready for the (main) launch later in the year.
“But we are making sure we have the technology to work with the trade and it’s something I look forward to.”
He said the business had been “inundated with calls” from hotels wanting to work with easyJet Holidays and had formed agreements with 500 so far.
Asked if easyJet Holidays would open its own-brand hotels in the future, Lundgren said: “We get 100 million passengers on our planes, 20 million book accommodation with us so we just need to convert them and we will become one of the biggest players in the sector.
“This is about capturing opportunities that already exist. I didn’t have the intention that this was going to be something we would invest in, it came up as an opportunity when we looked at the (customer) data.
“We are working with fantastic hoteliers who are experts in running hotel businesses and we have got to make the best out of that.”
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