Euro airlines miss out on Web profits

European airlines have so far failed to embrace ecommerce, but that is about to change, according to research group, PhoCusWright.

The company claims that although major airlines are typically making an investment of between $200,000 and $5m on Internet strategies, few will sell more than 1.5 per cent of tickets via the Internet during 1999.

PhoCusWright polled nine airlines - Air France, Alitalia, British Airways, Iceland Air, KLM, Lauda Air, Lufthansa, Sabena and Virgin - and found three do not yet have booking engines on their Web sites, while two have only just launched booking sites using third party providers.

EasyJet, the budget airline based in Luton, was not involved in the research. A spokesman for the company said it is ahead of the other airlines and considers the Internet central to the company's future. It claims to sell a quarter of its tickets online.

A spokesman for the airline said: "The industry seems to be preoccupied with code sharing agreements and alliances, whereas we're concentrating on pushing the consumer towards the Net."

With this in mind, easyJet today launched a chain of high street Internet cafes, starting with a 500-seat "bricks and mortar portal" at London's Victoria station.

PhoCusWright's research concluded this is one way forward, saying: "In order to extend their brand and develop this burgeoning Internet market, airlines are offering cybercafes, Internet only pricing, two-for-one deals and free frequent flyer miles in order to entice their customers to book online."

Peter Flint, business development manager at lastminute.com, the Web-based travel outfit, commented: "In effect, we do ecommerce services for a lot of other companies that have Web sites. Our strength is that there are a lot of consumers out there who don't mind which airline they travel with, and we provide an unbranded service."