Panelists from Scoot, Momondo Group and Kiwi.com on stage at the EyeforTravel Asia Summit 2016
THE question, “who offers the cheapest fares?”, was tackled by a panel made up of representatives from Scoot, Momondo Group and Kiwi.com held during the EyeforTravel Asia Summit 2016 last week.
While the relationship between airlines, OTAs and metasearch engines can seem tenuous at times, the panelists have come to the conclusion that partnering with each other is more crucial than ever before despite their constant competition for the same travel dollars.
Addressing the question head on, Zdenek Komenda, vice president business development at Kiwi.com, said: “It depends on the market and the airline, but from our perspective, when we connect different airlines together, we create itineraries and we can offer the cheapest fares because we (are able to) combine airline (connections) that don’t operate together.”
The added value OTAs bring for airlines is not lost on Trevor Spinks, head of sales and distribution at Scoot.
He said: “As we get more and more competition, we really got to reach out and seek opportunities. So for instance, we will work with OTAs and offer them special promotional fares because different markets will have different competition.
“We will work with an OTA that has a very strong penetration in a market (and they may have) fares that could be cheaper than our own website based on dynamic pricing. You have to see what drives each market and (see what works).”
Meanwhile, Bibi Laegaard, head of meta sales at Momondo Group is poignant to point out that metasearch engines like theirs don’t set the prices, but merely aggregate them. They do, however, help OTAs by tackling markets often difficult for them to do so.
“OTAs weren’t fond of metasearchers but now they see us as a necessity. We realised that working together will benefit us all instead of seeing metasearchers as an evil necessity. So there’s been a change in perception in the last five to 10 years,” she said.
Agreeing with Laegaard, Spinks said: “This question (who offers the cheapest fares) is a good one and I think the answer has changed over time. Five years ago I will always say it’s the LCCs and nobody else. But it has changed in Europe and it is changing here (in Asia).”
