Cheapflights is a travel fare

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. 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. 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-

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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

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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

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

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