Cheapflights is a travel fare

metasearch engine A metasearch engine (or search aggregator) is an online information retrieval tool that uses the data of a web search engine to produce its own results. Metasearch engines take input from a user and immediately query search engines for results. S ...

. The website is part of the

Kayak.com Kayak (styled as KAYAK) is an American online travel agency and metasearch engine owned and operated by Booking Holdings. Kayak's website and mobile apps are currently available in over 18 languages and more than 30 countries, including the Un ...

subsidiary of

Booking Holdings Booking Holdings Inc. is an American travel technology company incorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law and based in Norwalk, Connecticut, that owns and operates several travel fare aggregators and travel fare metasearch engines inc ...

. Its websites publish flight prices, and compare prices from suppliers, including major airlines, through tiny travel agents. Agents advertise on the Cheapflights websites and are charged on a

pay-per-click Pay-per-click (PPC) is an internet advertising model used to drive traffic to websites, in which an advertiser pays a publisher (typically a search engine, website owner, or a network of websites) when the ad is clicked. Pay-per-click is usually ...

basis for users who link through to their websites.

History

Cheapflights was founded in 1996 by John Hatt. That year, its first website, www.cheapflights.co.uk, launched. In 2000, ex-

ABN Amro ABN or abn may refer to: Companies * ABN AMRO Group, a Dutch bank group * ABN AMRO, sometimes referred to as "ABN" in shorthand, is a Dutch state-owned bank * Algemene Bank Nederland, a now-defunct Dutch bank Radio, news and television organizat ...

banker David Soskin and Hugo Burge led a buyout of the website from its founder. The website was the first in the UK to launch the

online advertising Online advertising, also known as online marketing, Internet advertising, digital advertising or web advertising, is a form of marketing and advertising which uses the Internet to promote products and services to audiences and platform users. ...

remuneration model. In May 2003, the US website, www.cheapflights.com, was launched. In 2006, the website handled £1 billion in annual travel sales. In April 2007, the Canadian website, www.cheapflights.ca, was launched. In October 2008, the first non-English website, www.cheapflug.de, was launched. Co-founder David Soskin resigned as chief executive to become vice-chairman that same year. In 2009, the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

website was launched. In January 2011, the company launched mobile websites. In March 2011, the company acquired

momondo Momondo (stylised momondo) is a travel fare aggregator and travel fare metasearch engine. momondo was founded in Denmark and is today managed by KAYAK, part of Booking Holdings. History momondo was developed in Denmark and launched in September ...

, a rival online travel agency. The two websites and brands were kept independent of each other. It also discontinued Zugu. In October 2014, Great Hill Partners, a

private-equity firm A private equity firm is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of startup or operating companies through a variety of loosely affiliated investment strategies including leve ...

, invested £80m for a majority stake in the company that owned Cheapflights and momondo, valuing it at £132 million. In February 2015, the South African website was launched. In June 2015, the United Kingdom website was launched as a metasearch engine. In June 2016, Cheapflights added search capability within

Facebook Messenger Messenger is a proprietary instant messaging app and platform developed by Meta Platforms. Originally developed as Facebook Chat in 2008, the company revamped its messaging service in 2010, released standalone iOS and Android apps in 2011, and ...

. In October, Cheapflights reorganized some of its staff. In July 2017, Cheapflights and momondo were acquired by

for $550 million.

References

{{Travel ticket search engines Booking Holdings British travel websites British companies established in 1996 Hospitality companies established in 1996 Internet properties established in 1996 2017 mergers and acquisitions Travel ticket search engines Companies based in London