27 June 2006
The number of people booking their airline tickets online has risen to 560 million, representing a much higher proportion of market sales than 2005, according to a study.
Some 28 per cent of all bookings were made on the Internet, a rise from 20 per cent last year, the SITA research shows.
The most important factors for clients using online booking were price (66 per cent), schedule (44 per cent) and route (43 percent), but the ability to make your own arrangements on the web is also among the most important considerations with 39 per cent citing this.
Service offered by the airline, (31 per cent) and previous travel experience (25 per cent) also featured, while airline loyalty was ranked by 23 per cent.
Francesco Violante, SITA chief executive officer, said: "The online travel revolution has come a long way since SITA developed the first ever internet booking engine ten years ago.
"Enabling passengers to plan their own trips on the web is now fundamental to the air transport industry and on-line booking is becoming the norm."
Other online services are on the up, with recent research conducted by MutualPoints showing that 97.5 per cent of UK residents have used the internet to buy a product or service.
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