Corporate News

KAYAK and Segittur present the first research into flight search and booking APPs

2011 saw these APPs consolidating themselves as a basic tool with which to compare prices, check flight status, or search for itineraries, but it is expected that in 2012 mobile applications for searching for and reserving flights, developed by airlines, agencies and online search engines should become an equally effective direct sales channel as the web. Taking the step to becoming a tool that people use to carry out such transactions will depend greatly on two main factors: mobile internet purchasing security, and the confidence which users place in them.

These conclusions form part of the 1st KAYAK Online Travel Barometer carried out by KAYAK.es, the online meta-search engine, in collaboration with the State Society for the Management of Innovation and Tourism Technologies (Segittur) and the Spanish airline, Vueling.

The study shows that when checking flight status, 65% of KAYAK.es users preferred to use this search engine’s mobile application rather than the Web (31%). In the case of Vueling, 10% of bookings made over the mobile application are for same-day reservations and 15% for next-day reservations.

As far as mobile applications are concerned, according to the research, the characteristics that users value most are speed (79%), ease of use (79%) and confidence (72%). For José Luis Martínez, country manager of KAYAK Spain, “there is still a certain lack of confidence about reserving flights because not all suppliers and agents are ready yet, which is why the evolution of the sector in 2012 will depend to a great extent on this factor”.

More información: www.elblogdekayak.es