US $750.00

PhoCusWright's U.S. Online Travel Overview Ninth Edition: Airlines

December 2009
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PhoCusWright's U.S. Online Travel Overview Ninth Edition: Airlines provides an in-depth look at the current state of airline distribution and projects future performance through 2011. The report reviews online travel trends, innovation and data crucial to understanding the dynamics of the air sector. The report also includes an overview of the U.S. online travel marketplace.

Since early 2008 U.S. airlines have been snared in a vice of volatile fuel prices and dramatic declines in traveler demand. Demand and revenue in the industry have fallen precipitously. Online travel passenger revenue at U.S. airlines will decline sharply in 2009, but far less so than the overall market and offline channels in particular. After years of strong share gains by airline Web sites, online travel agencies have turned the tables amid the recession. But OTAs' counter-cyclical strength may not hold as demand recovers and airlines accelerate their introduction of merchandising and optional services.

U.S. Travel Market Overview
To put the sector-specific data and analysis in perspective, this report includes an overview of the total U.S. travel market and key trends. The "Overview" chapter includes market size and projections of the total U.S. travel market and online leisure/unmanaged business through 2011, a review of corporate and leisure segmentation, and a comparison of the U.S. online travel market versus Europe and Asia Pacific.

Purchase PhoCusWright's U.S. Online Travel Overview Ninth Edition: Airlines to get a clear picture of the current performance and future outlook of the U.S. air travel market.

Get a complete view of the U.S. online travel marketplace with the full report, PhoCusWright's U.S. Online Travel Overview Ninth Edition.

More segment-specific reports—as well as electronic market data—are also available:

Table of Contents Methodology

TABLE OF CONTENTS ^top

SECTION ONE
Overview: Online Travel Declines for the First Time in 2009

Online Travel is Down, but Still Outperforms Total Market
2010: A Slow Recovery
Corporate Realignment
Online Travel Continues Its Global Ascension
Online Intermediaries’ Recessionary Lift
Key Trends & Implications

Purpose of the Report
Methodology

Market Size and Forecasts
Consumer Travel and Behavioral Information

SECTION TWO
Airlines: Online Agencies Rise Amid Airline Turbulence
Key Findings
Overview
Size of the Market

Online Agencies vs. Supplier Web Sites
Sharp Corporate Declines Close the Online Value Gap
Merchandising Goes Mainstream: Acillary Fees Give Way to Additive Services
Airlines vs. GDSs (and OTAs): An Unwinnable Battle
Metasearch and Lead-Generation Sites
Other Airline Trends and Assumptions

LIST OF TABLES
U.S. Total and Online Leisure/Unmanaged Business Travel Market, 2007–2011 (US$B)
Total Segment Revenue and Online Change 2009 vs. 2008
Total Leisure/Unmanaged Business Travel and Corporate Travel, 2007–2011 (US$B)
Growth of Total Corporate Online Leisure and Offline Leisure Travel Markets, 2007–2011
European Online Leisure/Unmanaged Business Travel Market and Growth, 2007–2011 (€B)
Asia Pacific Online Leisure/Unmanaged Business Travel Market and Growth, 2008–2011 (€B)
U.S., Europe and AsiaPacific Online Leisure and Unmanaged Business Travel Share of the Total Travel Markets, 2007–2011
Supplier Web Sites vs. Online Travel Agencies, 2006–2011
Relative Influence of Consumer Technologies, 2008
U.S. Airlines Internet Leisure/Unmanaged Business Gross Bookings, 2007–2011 (US$M)
U.S. Passenger Revenue and Traffic* Year-Over-Year Change for 1H09
U.S. Online Leisure/Unmanaged Business Share of Total Air Market, 2008 and 2010
Online Travel Agency in Air Tickets Sold vs. U.S. Airline Traffic, 3Q08 to 2Q09, Year-Over-Year Change
Typical Air Purchase Channel by Age
Channel Share of U.S. Network Airline Passenger Revenue & Passengers, 2008
U.S. Airline Sales by Channel & Change, 2008–2009 (US$B)
Differences in Average Fare by Distribution Channel vs. Aggregate Average Fare for Five Largest U.S. Network Carriers, 2008 and 2009
Supplier and OTA Air Shoppers Who Also Visit Nontransactional Categories

METHODOLOGY ^top

Market Size and Forecasts
PhoCusWright has been tracking the financial results of the online travel industry since 1998. This report’s estimates and forecasts cover U.S.-based travel businesses, including travel suppliers (airlines, hotels, car-rental companies, packagers, railways and cruise lines) and OTAs. The total market size includes non-U.S. travel suppliers’ sales that were transacted through U.S.-based OTAs. All figures are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise stated.

Both leisure and unmanaged business travel services are included in the online travel market size and forecast figures. Unless otherwise indicated, all online gross bookings and share figures refer to leisure/unmanaged travel. Unmanaged business travel refers to all air, car and hotel expenses associated with business travel in firms that do not have a travel policy dictating the channel, type of travel, supplier or fare/rate uses. Corporate online booking systems such as Sabre/GetThere and Amadeus/e-Travel are excluded from this analysis (for more information on the corporate travel market, see PhoCusWright’s U.S. Corporate Travel Distribution Fourth Edition). Corporate travel bookings are included in the total travel market figures, but are not addressed in this report outside of this “Overview” chapter.

PhoCusWright builds its estimates and forecasts from discussions with more than 80 travel executives regarding their companies’ Internet sales, marketing and technology investments, challenges, strategies and expectations. Their responses have been vetted and aggregated to determine market size for supplier Web sites and OTAs. PhoCusWright also reviewed data from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission documents, company reports, and select thirdparty data sources.

Figures for 2007-2008 are based on actual company results. Projections for 2009-2011 are based on company interviews, consumer research and market developments. PhoCusWright also considers historical growth and economic trends when developing its forecasts. Estimates and projections are for gross bookings (i.e., the retail value of travel sold over the Internet) after cancellations. Figures for airlines are based on flown (passenger) revenue. Hotel figures are based on room revenue. Figures for car rental are based on domestic U.S. revenues, excluding insurance replacement revenue. Figures for cruise lines and tour operators are based on U.S. outbound-passenger revenue. Figures for rail are based upon passenger ticket revenue.

Where possible, travel that is researched online but booked offline using a toll-free telephone number provided on the Web site are excluded from online gross bookings figures. Total travel figures (online and offline) are used to determine Internet penetration for each market segment. Total travel figures are either derived from third-party sources or are PhoCusWright estimates.

Note that figures listed in tables do not always add precisely to column totals due to rounding.