Update | Chinese airlines migrating away from online travel agencies in effort to lower sales costs
Three mainland airlines abandon air ticketing platform Qunar amid push to bolster their own direct-ticket sales model
China’s big three airlines have formed a boycott of travel booking site Qunar over ticket sales, which means passengers are no longer able to book seats on the major operators through the online travel reservations platform.
The airlines said they abandoned the platform because of concerns over the sale and distribution of tickets, including what they said were complaints from customers after buying tickets from unauthorised agents on the platform.
But the airlines are also believed to be striving to comply with a government-set goal to sell half their seats directly to the public within two years, a measure that will help save on costs and put the airlines in a better position to compile online sales information about their customer base.
Qunar’s shares, which are listed on Nasdaq, have plunged nearly 25 per cent since the beginning of the year, when Chinese airlines led by China Southern Airlines started cutting ties with the travel booking site that was one of China’s largest for ticket bookings. China Eastern Airlines joined the boycott of Qunar on Tuesday. Air China has also abandoned the e-ticketing platform.
The airlines are investing heavily in their own websites and mobile apps. The effort is also to meet a benchmark set by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission whereby the state-owned airlines will derive 50 per cent of seat sales through direct means by 2018.
The country’s largest airline China Southern, the first to begin a zero-commission policy for agents last June, said sales costs fell by 867 million yuan (HK$1.04 billion) last year mostly because of the commission savings, and that sales via its mobile app and WeChat account more than doubled.