The European travel agency market will face stiff new competition from the airline business with the announcement of the launch of a new Internet travel service, Opodo.dot.com.
A consortium of nine European carriers will invest #128 million (£100 million) in the venture which will allow them to compete directly for the lucrative travel market.
British Airways, Air France and Lufthansa are the principal shareholders of On Line Travel Portal, the owner of Opodo. Other airlines with a stake include national carriers, Aer Lingus, Alitalia, Austrian Airlines, KLM, Iberia and Finnair.
The Pan-European company will sell over the Internet inventory from 480 airlines, 54,000 hotels and 23,000 car rentals locations. The new service will rollout in Germany in December and nine other European countries through to 2002.
Opodo is expected to go head to head against established Internet travel companies such as Expedia and Travelocity. It says it will compete with fares up to 25 per cent cheaper than industry averages.
Opodo will have IATA licences in all the shareholder markets and Sweden initially. It aims to be profitable by 2003 and market leader by 2005.
The US travel market has recently been shaken by the launch of Orbitz.com on June 4th. The consortium of five major US carriers has already faced down challenges from the Department of Transport and travel agents.
Aer Lingus welcomes the launch of Opodo which it describes as an opportunity to widen distribution channels.
