Skyscanner is a travel fare aggregator website and travel metasearch engine based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The website is owned by Ctrip since November 2016, the largest travel company in China. The site is available in over 30 languages and is used by 60 million people per month. The news section of the website includes regular news from the travel and flight industry and travel tips for customers. The website is the winner of many awards.
Maps, Directions, and Place Reviews
History
The company was formed in 2004 by three information technology professionals, Gareth Williams, Barry Smith and Bonamy Grimes, after one of them was frustrated by the difficulties of finding cheap flights to ski resorts.
Skyscanner was first developed and released in 2002. In 2003, the first employee was hired to assist with site development. The Edinburgh office was opened in 2004.
In 2011, Skyscanner acquired the door-to-door travel site Zoombu for an undisclosed amount.
Skyscanner opened an office in Singapore in September 2011, which is headquarters for its Asia-Pacific operations.
In 2012, a Beijing office was added, as Skyscanner began a partnership with Baidu, China's largest search engine.
By 2013, the company employed over 180 people.
In February 2013, Skyscanner announced plans to open a US base in Miami
In October 2013, Sequoia Capital announced it had purchased an interest in Skyscanner that valued the company at $800 million.
In June 2014, Skyscanner acquired Youbibi, a travel search engine company based in Shenzhen, China.
In August 2014, a market research study found that, in comparison to other travel websites, Skyscanner tended to have more users aged 16-34. The same study found that 64% of those who have used Skyscanner trust the platform.
In October 2014, Skyscanner acquired the Budapest-based mobile app developer Distinction.
In January 2016, Skyscanner announced that it had raised $192 million based on a $1.6 billion valuation for the company.
By February 2015, the company employed 600 people, double the employment of 18 months earlier.
In November 2016, Ctrip, the largest travel firm in China, bought Skyscanner for $1.75 billion.
In 2017, Ctrip bought the Trip.com domain and launched its new service Trip.com. The original platform was rebranded as Trip by Skyscanner and has became a subsidiary of Skyscanner.
Awards and accolades
Skyscanner has won various awards including a Queen's Award for Enterprise, Travolution Brand of the Year 2011 and Best Flight Comparison 2010 from Travolution.
The site has been well received by the UK media; in an "Online Cheap Flight Finding Experiment" run by The Guardian newspaper, Skyscanner was praised for finding the lowest flight fares and for "beating much bigger operators such as Expedia and Travelocity". The site was also listed in The Independent newspaper's articles - "The Ten Best: Travel Sites". and "101 Really Useful Websites", published in 2007. The Daily Telegraph named Skyscanner as one of the nine best travel websites in 2009.
Media usage
Skyscanner was mentioned in the track 'Detox' by UK grime artist and 2016 Mercury Prize winner Skepta: "Now I'm like an airhostess, how I jump on the flight / Skyscanner, I book it on-site"
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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