Budget carrier looks to woo business travellers
Saturday, 28 Mar, 2011
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Easyjet is to target business travellers with the creation of a corporate sales team and the establishment of flexible tickets.
At a press conference to mark the launch of the low cost carrier’s new route to Jordan – the inaugural flight was on Sunday – chief executive Carolyn McCall said that some 18% of the airline’s passengers were corporate travellers and that was without the airline even going out of its way to woo them.
She said: “Nearly one in five of our passengers are business travellers and we’ve done that without doing anything to attract them – they’ve found us.”
Easyjet carried out a five-month trial selling flexible tickets through a corporate travel agency and will now roll this out internationally.
The corporate sales team will incorporate 15 people and their task will be to negotiate rates with the travel managers and TMCs representing small and large corporates.
However, the McCall said there were no plans to launch business class seats, adding: “We don’t believe in that. It’s complicated and it’s not egalitarian.”
McCall also used the press call to warn that the carrier planned to get tough on routes that were not performing financially. As the cost of fuel continues to rocket, she said the airline would be ruthless on cutting low- performing routes and that customers should be prepared for rising fares.
She said: “You will see us being much more brutal about what routes work and what routes don’t. We’re going to be very, very tough about routes that aren’t working."
by Dinah Hatch
Dinah
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