Google Executive Joins Cheapflights' Board

Liane Hornsey appointed Non-Executive Director

London & Boston, 5 May 2008: Cheapflights Ltd. ("Cheapflights"), a leading UK and North American internet media travel company, which pioneered online flight price search and comparison in 1996, announces the appointment of Liane Hornsey to the Board as Non-Executive Director with effect from 1st May 2008.

Ms. Hornsey will Chair the Remuneration Committee of the Cheapflights Board. She has 20 years working experience across Sales, Marketing and HR and is currently Google’s Director of People Operations for Europe, Middle East and Africa. Past experience includes Group HR Director for Lastminute.com and NTL (now Virgin Media) and she has worked in a variety of roles at Bertelsmann Music Group and British Telecom.

Commenting, Cheapflights' CEO, Chris Cuddy said: "Liane's international experience with fast growing online media companies, will be a huge asset as we chart our next period of growth. I look forward to working with her."

Cheapflights announces new head of international development

London and Boston (USA) April 14, 2008: Cheapflights Ltd. ("Cheapflights"), a leading UK and North American internet media travel company providing flight price search and comparison announces that Senior Vice President Mo Bulbrook has been promoted to Head of International. A veteran of the travel industry, Mo Bulbrook is also one of Cheapflights' longest standing employees. She takes over the role from Hugo Burge who she has assisted in the successful launch of both of Cheapflights' North American sites, namely the US site www.cheapflights.com in 2003 and the soft launch of the Canadian site, www.cheapflights.ca, in April 2007. Mo will now have responsibility for developing the Cheapflights presence both in Europe and other continents.

Hugo Burge has determined that the time is right to hand over the baton as Head of International to Mo Bulbrook. Hugo will continue to focus on his role as Cheapflights Vice-Chairman and will assist Cheapflights in an advisory capacity, particularly around company strategy and international growth.

Cheapflights’ CEO, Chris Cuddy commented: “Hugo’s contributions to Cheapflights to date have been immense. He has helped drive virtually every aspect of the business including signing some of our earliest advertising partners, providing insightful guidance to the product, and launching the US office. Along the way, Hugo has always reminded us to “think big” and “put the customer first” as we “build a better mousetrap.”

Cheapflights restructures Board

Group Managing Director promoted to CEO - David Soskin becomes Vice-Chairman

London, March 10, 2008: Cheapflights Ltd. ("Cheapflights" or "the Company"), a leading UK and North American internet media travel company, which pioneered online flight price search and comparison in 1996, announces the restructuring of its Board to position itself for its next phase of growth and international expansion.

Chris Cuddy, formerly Group Managing Director, will assume the responsibilities of CEO from David Soskin. David will become Vice-Chairman and remain on the Board and will continue to represent the interests of existing shareholders as the Company contemplates its liquidity options.

From the TTG blogs: A love of long-haul

Francesca Ecsery, Cheapflights' general manager, is writing a regular blog for Travel Trade Gazette's website, ttglive.com. Here is her latest post.

Our traffic flow for this year shows that the most popular destinations for 2008 revolve somewhat around the usual suspects like Tenerife, Lanzarote, and Gran Canaria, but also include Dubai, Orlando, Bangkok, Barbados, Goa, and Sharm El-Sheikh.

At first glance, you might think that there’s nothing really new about this information, but actually there is. If you examine the trend a bit more closely, you’ll see that long haul destinations seem to be the favourite for 2008 and there are a few reasons why this is so.

As we’ve witnessed in the UK, costs of living and travel continue to rise while the pound maintains its strength. The rest of Europe and the Euro are not exactly on the same path, but are not very far off because although they offer a diverse choice of destinations, your money doesn’t take you as far as it would further afield.

Enjoy your flight - Cheapflights' viral marketing

Dreamy? Titillating? Funny? If this is your idea of an enjoyable flight then Cheapflights is the place to find it, because its new viral marketing campaign is a real trip – literally.

Cheapflights.co.uk, the UK’s leading flight price comparison website, has launched a viral marketing campaign specifically targeted to 18-34 year olds. The interactive campaign entitled, “Enjoy Your Flight”, plays on the idea that your dream holiday commences from the moment you board the plane.

Before you begin, you’re invited to choose between either a steward or stewardess, James and Joanna, to host you during the flight. From there, the journey takes off into video animation where the user interacts with a range of in-flight activities. There is also a risqué element involved, but only by choice upon clicking the “fantasy” button.

Cheapflights wins Website of the Year travel award - again!

Cheapflights.co.uk has triumphed again at the Website of the Year Awards, taking home the Best Travel Site prize for 2007.

The awards are won by those sites scoring the highest average on content, navigation and design, and are voted for by consumers. This year more than 550,000 votes were cast, up from 350,000 last year.

Reclaiming the title for the second time in a row indicates the continuing popularity of Cheapflights, which pioneered the online travel price comparison model in 1996 and receives 5.25 million global unique user visits each month.

Cheapflights.co.uk comments on new government tax proposals for UK aviation industry

London, October 12, 2007: Cheapflights Ltd., the leading UK and North American internet media travel company, which pioneered online flight price search and comparison in 1996 has reviewed the Chancellor's Pre Budget Review proposals on the taxation of the UK aviation industry.

In view of the broad nature of the proposals announced by the Government, it is only possible to make general comments until a consultation process is undertaken. However, there are a number of fundamental issues which the Government must consider when introducing the new UK aviation industry taxation regime.

The planned change on 1 November 2009 from the current Air Passenger Duty (APD), paid for by passengers, to a tax on both passenger, and now freight aircraft flights as well, will mean that passengers will still pay - albeit indirectly as operators seek to meet the cost of taxation. Importantly, there could also be a significant 'downstream' negative knock-on effect on the UK's air-travel, tourism and aviation support industries. These depend on the continued financial health of aviation in the UK and employ hundreds of thousands of workers(1). It could also potentially affect London's status as a global financial centre by making it less attractive to visit or to have operations based in London.

Cheapflights regrets that the FTO's legal challenge to increased Air Passenger Duty has failed

London: September 5, 2007: Cheapflights Ltd., the leading UK and North American internet media travel company, which pioneered online flight price search and comparison in 1996, regrets that the UK High Court judicial review has backed the British government’s increased “green” tax on air travel via its doubling of Air Passenger Duty (APD) retrospectively and failed to uphold a case against the tax presented by the Federation of Tour Operators (FTO).

Cheapflights supports any initiative to reduce global emissions of CO2 and other global warming gases but questions the effectiveness (apart from raising revenue for the Treasury) of unilateral UK action through the "blunt instrument" of direct taxation on the UK aviation industry. Furthermore the British Air Transport Association figure for UK aviation CO2 emissions is just 0.1 per cent of total global CO2.

According to DEFRA the two major contributors to UK CO2 are the road transport and residential sectors, both of which have seen an increase in CO2 emissions since 1990 and now account for over 50 per cent of the UK's carbon footprint. In contrast, based on UK aviation fuel bunkering records, UK and International carriers using British airports account for only an estimated 6 per cent of the UK's total CO2 emissions.

London no longer a top ten destination for Americans

London Drops From 7th Position in July 2006 to 15th in July 2007

London, August 20, 2007: Cheapflights Ltd., the leading UK and North American internet media travel company, which pioneered online flight price search and comparison in 1996, has analysed the number of clicks that were made searching for flight deals to London in July 2006 and 2007 on its US site www.cheapflights.com. While Cheapflights.com's July 2007 traffic has grown strongly over July 2006, both overall and for London, the city's lower destination ranking demonstrates the significant effect the dollar's weakness has had on US air travel to the UK.

In July 2006 London was ranked the 7th most popular destination for which deals were sought on Cheapflights’ US site. In July 2007, that ranking has dropped sharply out of the top ten destinations to 15th. This follows the US dollar's significant decline against the Pound year on year. According to the US Federal Reserve's monthly average exchange rate for July 2006 the Dollar stood at 1.8433: In July 2007, the average exchange rate was 2.0355 which has clearly deterred potential US tourists from coming to the UK.

Normally the top main destinations sought by Cheapflights' US users are seasonally stable with little variation. Predictably these are the leisure destinations of Las Vegas (1), Orlando (2) and Atlanta (6) and the business destinations of New York (3), Chicago (4), and Los Angeles (6). London's drop from its normal 7th position to 15th is very unusual and likely linked to the increased expense of travel driven by rising exchange rates.

Triumphing the Triathlon

Have you been waiting for a little inspiration to get you off your sofa? How does competing in a triathlon (while sweating buckets) for a good cause sound?

Well that’s exactly what our very own Sian Jewsbury did last week at the London Triathlon. The event took place on the hottest day of the year and involved 750 metres of swimming (in a wet suit – ooh la la), 20 kilometres of biking (after falling once) and 5 kilometres of running (as she battled a stitch), which Sian managed to complete in 2 hours and 16 seconds.

Credit cards abroad – what you should know before you go

London, August 7, 2007: Cheapflights.co.uk, the UK’s leading flight price comparison site, has researched credit card charges abroad to give travellers a better idea of what to expect when paying by plastic. The findings included APR* on purchases, ATM fees and interest fees charged for cash withdrawals when abroad, as well as emergency telephone numbers.

Travelling with a Bank of Scotland One credit card will help shop-till-you-drop consumers breathe easy with APR on purchases abroad coming in the lowest at 9.90%. This is in contrast to Marks & Spencer &MORE and Nationwide BS Classic cards which both charge 17.90% on purchases. ATM withdrawal fees range from 1.5% to 3% and minimum charges start at £2. Capital One credit card users face the highest minimum charge – a whopping £5 is the price they will pay for getting cash out overseas.

Cheapflights wins 3i Growth Strategy of the Year Award at S.E. Region National Business Awards, sponsored by Orange

London, July 13, 2007: Cheapflights Ltd., the leading UK and North American internet media travel company which pioneered online flight price comparison in 1996 is pleased to announce it has won the 3i Growth Strategy of the Year Award at the S.E. Region National Business Awards sponsored by Orange. Held at London's Royal Lancaster Hotel on July 12, the National Business Awards ceremony celebrates the achievements of businesses from the London and S.E Region in a number of categories.

The 3i award goes to the company that can best demonstrate an organic growth strategy (rather than M & A activity) that has achieved outstanding levels of sales, profit and market share improvement.

Cheapflights will now go forward to the national award level against the winners of the category from other regions.

Before you check-in, check out our checklist

Cheapflights.co.uk brings consumers another handy tool to help your holiday run smoothly

Holiday packing is something many of us leave until the night before, knowing full well that the odds of forgetting something crucial are very high. The UK’s leading flight price comparison site, Cheapflights.co.uk, now has a new handy travel checklist to make packing for your holiday that little bit easier.

The travel checklist is a pdf that can be printed out and ticked off by travellers to ease the holiday packing process. The sheet is completely free and comes just in time for school holidays and the summer peak season of travelling.

Cheapflights appoints Global Manager of Analytics

June 25 2007, London (UK) and Boston, Ma.: Cheapflights Ltd., the leading UK and North American internet travel media company which pioneered online flight price comparison, is pleased to announce that Dr. Brian Fitzgerald has joined the Company in the newly created role of Global Analytics Manager.

Based in London and reporting to Group Managing Director Chris Cuddy, Brian will lead Cheapflights' activities to build and manage a common, trusted, global tracking and reporting platform for the Group world-wide. He will develop the analytic tools and capabilities to help maintain and accelerate the rapid global growth already achieved and currently planned.

Brian brings more than ten years of experience in a variety of analytic, reporting, and technical roles. His work includes acting as Product Manager for Search Reporting at IAC Search and Media (Ask.com), and Technical Computing Manager at Marconi Applied Technologies. Previously, Brian also served as a Research Scientist for more than five years with a focus on thermo-physics at National Physical laboratory and environmental radiation at Clarkson University.

Cheapflights announces the senior appointment of United Kingdom General Manager

12th June, 2007, London (UK): Cheapflights Ltd., the leading UK and North American internet travel media company which pioneered online flight price comparison, is pleased to announce that Francesca Ecsery will join the Company as General Manager, United Kingdom with effect from 1st August, 2007.

Based in London, Francesca will report directly to Chris Cuddy, Cheapflights' Group Managing Director. Francesca comes to Cheapflights with in-depth knowledge and experience of the travel industry gained over fourteen years. She was most recently Managing Director, International Division, of STA Travel, the student and under-26 travel company whose business extends over 76 countries, 32 of which were secured under her leadership.

She also built STA's presence in the Chinese market place into a contributor to group profits and, in addition, led STA's travel ventures in Africa.

Ten Years On, Diana, Princess of Wales, still inspires volunteers

Latest Cheapflights.co.uk online survey reveals top places for Britons to volunteer

Cheapflights.co.uk – the UK’s leading flight price comparison website – has encouraged people to consider volunteering abroad through its latest poll. To highlight the role Diana, Princess of Wales, played in raising awareness of charitable causes, Cheapflights selected five high-profile charities including some visited by the Princess. The poll asked voters to choose the location they would consider visiting to volunteer.

The No. 1 destination for Cheapflights’ users - with 37 per cent of the vote - was the Brazil Youth Outreach, portrayed in the award-winning movie City of God, which helps abandoned street children.

Raising AIDS awareness in Tanzania was the second most popular location in which to volunteer with 23 per cent of the votes. The devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina across the US Gulf Coast in 2005 still affects many and there is plenty of work still to be done. Volunteering with Habitat for Humanity to rebuild destroyed houses came third with 18 per cent.

Cheapflights appoints strategic adviser

24 May, 2007, London (UK) & Boston, Mass. USA: Cheapflights Ltd., ("Cheapflights" or "the Company") announces that it has appointed LongAcre Partners Limited ("LongAcre") to advise it in relation to its strategic options. Cheapflights is the leading UK and North American internet qualified lead generation company focused on air travel. It pioneered online flight price comparison in 1996.

As an internet company which has been consistently profitable since its launch in 1996, Cheapflights has achieved its dramatic growth, including in the United States, from internally generated cash flow. LongAcre Partners’ role will be to advise the Company on its funding strategy, including an assessment of the relative attractiveness of private equity investment; IPO; or strategic partnerships.

David Soskin, CEO of Cheapflights, commented:
"We are looking to LongAcre to advise us on the optimum way to fuel our future growth, as well as to reward our shareholders and staff. We have no preconceptions as to the manner in which this can be achieved. Cheapflights is currently experiencing dramatic growth in Europe and North America. In considering our strategic options, LongAcre will take into account not only our shareholders and dedicated employees, but also the interests of our millions of users and the hundreds of travel industry advertising partners whose loyalty has been such a vital component of our success to date."

Cheapflights flies into 2007 with ten travel and business nominations and awards

UK site maintains leading top ten position in Neilsen//NetRatings Survey

Cheapflights.co.uk, the profitable, award-winning and leading UK flights price search and comparison site has started the year well in respect of industry accolades with 10 Internet, travel and business nominations and awards already secured.:

Cheapflights wins Best Travel Website at the Metrixlab 2006 Website of the Year Awards. More than 350,000 votes were cast to select the websites for each category. The title Best Website is provided to the site with the highest average score on content, navigation and design.

Cheapflights.co.uk wins the Wildcard Category of the Imperatives Digital Awards. The website was rated for its easy-to-understand travel results, helpful advice and blog site, Cheap Flight News.

Cheapflights launches new website in Canada

www.cheapflights.ca - Next step in Cheapflights' international expansion

24 April 2007: London UK & Boston MA. Cheapflights, the international leader in flights price comparison, is further expanding its reach and market position with the launch of a site in Canada - www.cheapflights.ca

Canada is a natural market for Cheapflights into which to expand. It enjoys both high internet penetration - more than 19 million users and a proliferation of broadband access - some 59 per cent of the population*. In addition, the web is the preferred means of researching travel** and the second most popular type of online purchase after books and magazines***. The market is ideal for the Cheapflights product because of price competition caused by charter flights, price discounting and low-cost airlines.

Howzat Media invests in third web start-up

London, 28 February 2007: HOWZAT media LLP ("HOWZAT"), the investment vehicle for start-up and early stage dotcom companies, recently launched by successful internet entrepreneurs Hugo Burge and David Soskin from Cheapflights.co.uk, has today completed its third investment, namely in TrustedPlaces.com ("TrustedPlaces") (www.trustedplaces.com). HOWZAT have provided angel funding of £500,000 and Hugo Burge will be taking a place on the Board of TrustedPlaces.

Cheapflights reports outstanding year for USA business

February 26 2007, London (UK) & Boston (USA): Cheapflights Ltd., the profitable, award-winning and leading UK and US internet travel media company, is pleased to announce that its growth over the past year has continued to achieve new record levels across all metrics, particularly in the USA.

Cheapflights pioneered neutral internet flight price search and comparison in the UK in 1996. It has enjoyed a consistent history of sustained organic growth funded entirely out of cash flow. The US site, launched in 2003 in one of the most competitive internet markets in the world, has mirrored that success. Cheapflights' global traffic has grown 19 times since current management took over in 2000. This was achieved without traditional above-the-line advertising spend.

Tell us what you think

Have you ever used Cheapflights to book a flight? How did you find the experience? Wished there was something you could tell us to improve the site?

Well, now you can. We're always trying to make our site bigger and better, and to give you the services and products that you need to research and find the best possible deal for your flight. In order to find out as much as we can about what you think of us, we're currently carrying out a survey on our site and appreciate every entrant that we get.

Cheapflights appoints Chief Technology Officer

31 January, 2007, London (UK): Cheapflights Ltd, the leading UK and US internet travel media company, is pleased to announce that Chris Martin has joined the Company as Chief Technology Officer with effect from 29th January 2007.

Based in London, Chris will report directly to Chris Cuddy, Cheapflights’ Group Managing Director. Chris brings to Cheapflights over twenty years of experience in leading consumer-focused technology teams. He is ideally suited to lead the next stage of Cheapflights’ technology and international growth.

Most recently, Chris was CTO of eBuyer.com, a leading UK ecommerce web site, where he was responsible for all technical aspects of the business.

Cheapflights team launches new investment fund 'Howzat Media'

London, 21 January 2007: Hugo Burge and David Soskin, respectively Vice-Chairman and Head of International, and CEO of Cheapflights Ltd ("Cheapflights"), have announced that they are leading a small group of private investors in the formation of a specialist internet investment fund. Apart from funding, investee companies will benefit from Hugo and David’s operational experience gained from building one of the UK's most successful, profitable and long-lived dotcom companies.

Cheapflights strategic investment in dohop.com

Significant expansion in travel consumer flight planner offering
"The perfect tool for those who need to know precise flight times, routes and availability from anywhere, to anywhere else."

January 15, 2007: London (UK), Boston (USA) and Reykjavik (Iceland): Cheapflights Ltd., the leading UK and US internet travel media company, is pleased to announce that it has made a strategic investment of an undisclosed sum in the Icelandic global flights planner, dohop ltd ("dohop.com"). Cheapflights will be represented on the dohop.com Board.

The dohop.com free website enables travellers to research available flight routes and scheduled departures and arrivals worldwide. It facilitates journey planning and is particularly helpful for finding unusual flight connections. Dohop.com offers an excellent complementary offering to Cheapflights' award-winning websites Cheapflights.co.uk and Cheapflights.com.

Cheapflights appoints first branding agency

London: January 11 2007: Cheapflights Ltd, the leading UK and US internet travel media company, is pleased to announce that it has appointed its first Branding Agency, Bostock and Pollitt, to assist with the development of its popular online travel brand that already reaches over 5m unique users globally a month.

Launched from a Wandsworth attic in 1996 Cheapflights has grown to be a market leader in its field. This has been achieved over the past ten years by driving profitable direct response traffic to the site whilst providing consumers with a strong deals comparison product. Continuous investment in our product has successfully met the evolving demands of both consumers and travel advertisers on our site and established Cheapflights as an important internet travel brand. However, as the online travel market matures and our profitability further strengthens, CF will look to further differentiate our brand, to retain the loyalty of our existing customers and assist in reaching new ones.

Cheapflights win at Website of the Year 2006

Cheapflights.co.uk has been voted the best travel website 2006 by the UK's Website of the Year Awards.

The awards are voted for by consumers and this year more than 350,000 votes were cast by 275,000 voters.

There are 20 consumer categories, with 359 websites nominated. Cheapflights was voted "Best travel site".

Cheapflights merchandise on sale now

Read the news, watched the movie, now want to buy the T-shirt?

If your love for all things Cheapflights can't be sated by using our price comparison site, reading the latest Flight News, subscribing to our newsletter or getting the Cheap Flight News RSS feeds, you'll be pleased by the news that you can now buy Cheapflights merchandise - perfect for a Christmas present for loved ones.

If you've always wanted to adorn yourself with a tasty CF T-shirt (or hoodie, tank top, tracksuit, dog T-shirt, vest, bib, apron), your time has come.

If you're flying to your next destination: have you packed your lunch?

London, November 7 2006

Low-cost airlines can save you a small fortune on air travel, but getting a bit peckish or thirsty up in the sky can make those savings diminish rather quickly. Cheapflights.co.uk, the UK’s leading flight comparison website has conducted a survey to find out where menu prices can erode savings made on the ticket price.

The survey compared the prices of in-flight meals and other items such as a ham sandwich, Coca Cola, a gin and tonic and a cup of tea across 22 airlines that travel from the UK. Those flying on the major airlines such Air Berlin, Air France and British Airways can breathe a sigh of relief as all of these items come complimentary with the flight.

What's new at Cheapflights

What you see is what you get
The launch of the new Cheapflights’ Data Policy might sound fairly mundane but it's great news for all holiday deal hunters. By implementing stricter guidelines that travel companies must adhere to, we can ensure that the deals on our website are as accurate and up-to-date as possible.

Welcome aboard
We’re delighted to welcome several new partners to the Cheapflights family this month including Asda Travel, Fly With Us, Hertz, Maxjet and Silverjet, whose business class airfares to the USA start from only £799. Check out the Handpicked Deals page on our website for more details.

Speech to Battle of Ideas

By David Soskin, CEO Cheapflights.co.uk
at the Royal College of Art, London Sunday 29 October 2006

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Those of us who do not believe aviation is a prime environmental offender have been vilified as “destroyers of the planet” – and worse. Let me assure you that at Cheapflights.co.uk, we take the environment extremely seriously. If you visit Cheapflights.co.uk, you will see that we link to many sites which we believe make a helpful and positive contribution to solving the problem of carbon emissions. For example, Climate Care, an organisation which tells us how much CO2 our trips will create and how much we should contribute to make such trips carbon neutral.

Cheapflights' CEO counters greens on flight carbon emissions at 2006 Battle of Ideas

London, 29th October 2006: David Soskin CEO, Cheapflights.co.uk, the UK’s leading travel price search and comparison website, debated with environmentalists at the Institute of Idea's "Battle of Ideas" event on 29 October 2006 held in Kensington at London's Royal College of Art.

In the debate, he strongly disputed assertions by some environmentalists that aviation is "a destroyer of the planet" and that aviation is "a major contributor to global warming". Instead, he accused them of proposing shortsighted kneejerk taxation solutions which would actually be counterproductive in achieving lower aircraft emissions.

Cheapflights nominated for Website of the Year award

It will undoubtedly come as no surprise to our users, but we're proud to announce Cheapflights has been nominated for a Website of the Year 2006 award.

The awards, which are voted for by the public online, are broken down into various categories including Auction, Blog, Community, News and Sports. Cheapflights has been nominated in the Travel category.

Others in the Travel section are the worthiest airline websites (including Ryanair and British Airways) and familiar names like Opodo and Expedia.

Cheapflights appoints UK Head of Marketing

Recruits high profile airline industry figure

Cheapflights Ltd, the international travel price search and comparison website, is pleased to announce that it has recruited Joe Sikorsky as Head of UK Marketing with effect from 2nd October. Joe will be based in Cheapflights' London office and will report to Cheapflights' UK Commercial Director, Rob Passmore.

Joe was the Head of Digital at British Airways where he served for over eleven years. He was listed in the UK 2005 “power people” in Digital Marketing. He joins Cheapflights from this post where he headed up BA's digital channel strategy for the UK and also managed paid and organic search strategies. In all, Joe accrued seven years experience in digital marketing at BA. The airline was one of the first in the UK fully to embrace online marketing and created one of the world's leading and most innovative airline websites. Joe will build on Cheapflights' achievements to date in its marketing and newsletter functions where his direct experience will be of huge value.

Cheapflights CEO predicts the best is yet to come for internet travel

Speaking at the World Travel Internet Conference held on September 18 in the Turks & Caicos, Cheapflights CEO David Soskin told delegates that despite the phenomenal growth in the use of the internet to market travel to date, the best is still yet to come.

The internet is only 14 years old and yet in the past ten years 30 million internet users have grown to over one billion(1), with numbers still rising.

Referring to the UK market he cited recent statistics which show that "the Internet Generation" of 15-24 year olds on average spends nearly three hours a week(2) on the net. Furthermore in a 2005 IAB/RAB Media Conjunction Study, 71% of all correspondents said they are using the internet more. Over a quarter of the younger age group said they spend more time on the net than they do reading national newspapers, a traditional medium for travel advertising.

Cheapflights.co.uk traffic reaches 2.72m - ABCe audit confirms continued growth

Cheapflights.co.uk, the UK's most comprehensive and leading travel price search and comparison site, which was established in 1996, has just received confirmation of its continued growth in traffic from the independent online auditing company ABC Electronic Limited (ABCe).

In figures just released by ABCe, Cheapflights.co.uk.'s audited July 2006 figures reached 2.72 million UK unique users for flights traffic alone. Last year's comparative ABCe figures of 2.87 million contained additional traffic numbers from the company's holiday, short break and accommodation sites all of which were disposed of earlier this year. This year's figure confirms the continued growth in flight price search and comparison traffic on Cheapflights.co.uk

Competition winners

Congratulations to the following winners of Cheapflights' recent competitions:

Newsletter sign-up £2,000 giveaway
Each month we give away £2,000 to one lucky new newsletter subscriber. Congratulations to:

March's winner: Jayne Emerson-Lawrence from Henley on Thames
February’s winner: Piers Williams from Wiltshire
January's winner: Obafemi Adesanya from London
December's winner: Stephen Danks from Bolton
November's winner: Scott Haddow from Surrey
October's winner: Brett Heathcote from Leicester
September's winner: Chatna Patel from Birmingham
August's winner: Terence A Coward from Blackburn
July's winner: George Summers from Luton
June's winner: Annabel Wood from Bedfordshire
May's winner: Michael Davies from Swansea
April's winner: Ellen Ward from Manchester
March's winner: Isabel Low from Aberdeen
February's winner: Mariann Mcmanus from Blackburn
December's winner: Ann Callaghan from Liverpool
November's winner: Anne Collins from Hampshire
October's winner: Gordon Roberts from Denbighshire
September's winner: Murdo M Calder-Macphee from Caithness
August’s winner: Jean Gamson from North Lanarkshire

The hidden costs of flying

From seats and baggage to food and entertainment, airlines are charging for more "extras" than ever before. Find out how to beat the system with Cheapflights.co.uk.

Cheapflights today launched a new "hidden extras" consumer resource. This convenient tips page helps consumers by disclosing how much airlines charge travellers for items such as food, entertainment, seat selection and baggage.

Cheapflights.co.uk users can now click the relevant tab on its Travel Tips sections to access tips sheets for more than 20 top airlines: Airline Extras.

Where the hell is Matt? (and Biggles for that matter)

If you love travel - and dancing - then you will enjoy this video that is going virally bonkers on You Tube.

Where the hell is Matt? features Matt Harding dancing for all he is worth against the spectacular landscapes of Jordan, Peru, the Galapagos Islands and South Shetland Islands as well as the bustling cityscapes of Venice, Tokyo, New York and London.

More than 1.4m people (and counting) have seen it so far. It is something you will want to forward to your friends. Matt, many congratulations from all of us at Cheapflights!

As imitation is said to be the sincerest form of flattery - and as You Tube welcomes video responses - Cheapflights has created a version with our very own Biggles the Bear. Once Biggles saw the video he could not resist getting out and seeing the world. Click here to see the dancing bear in Where the hell is Biggles?

Cheapflights hit record 5.25 million unique users in January 2006

Cheapflights Ltd., the award-winning and profitable pioneer of independent online travel search and price comparison, announces that it achieved a record 5.25 million unique users in January 2006.

Year on year, its January 2006 traffic grew by 31.25%. Cheapflights is the UK's leading independent international internet travel deal search and comparison company and has become a major, and growing, sector player in the USA.

Cheapflights appoints product director

Cheapflights Ltd, the leading travel price comparison website in the UK, is pleased to announce that it has recruited Lisa Underkoffler as Product Director. Lisa will report to recently appointed Group Managing Director, Chris Cuddy, and will be based at the Company's US office in Boston, Massachusetts. Lisa will lead both the Boston and the London product development teams.

Cheapflights Ltd. pioneered the concept of online publishing for travel deals in 1996 with its radical Cheapflights.co.uk flights price search and comparison portal. In 2003, Cheapflights launched its USA site Cheapflights.com which already attracts over 1.5 million unique users a month.

Torvill and Dean triumph again

Cheapflights.co.uk reveals Britain’s favourite Winter Olympic heroes

It’s official! Brits are a nation of hopeless romantics – a figure confirmed after 22%1 of respondents declared Torvill and Dean the nation’s favourite Winter Olympians in a recent survey conducted by Cheapflights.co.uk - the UK’s largest online travel deal comparison service. The ice dancing duo’s victorious rendition of Ravel’s Bolero at the 1984 Olympics in Sarajevo continues to rank as one of Britain’s proudest cold climate achievements, narrowly beating the comic antics of Eddie ‘The Eagle’ Edwards at Calgary in 1988 to take the top spot. Eddie managed 21% of the public vote.

Cheapflights tops .net Awards

A big thank you to everyone who voted for the Cheapflights website in the Best of The .net Awards 2005, ensuring we won the best travel site prize.

After four weeks of voting by .net magazine readers, across 12 different categories, more than 100,000 votes were received.

The magazine’s readers were asked to make their choice based on the site’s design, ease of navigation and where relevant, value for money and customer service.

Cheapflights launch telephone cheat sheet

Cheapflights today announced a new telephone "Cheat Sheet" consumer resource on its www.cheapflights.co.uk site. This helps consumers to circumvent the frequently time-consuming and frustrating computerised answering systems and gain faster access to a real person over the telephone. Cheapflights.co.uk users can now 'click' the relevant tab on its "Travel Tips" sections to access telephone "Cheat Sheet" lists for twenty top airlines, tour operators and hotel groups.

The new tab can accessed by navigating in from the Cheapflights.co.uk home page “travel tips" section or entering http://www.cheapflights.co.uk/travel-tips/cheatsheet.html on an internet browser.

Cheapflights: What's hot for 2006

Leading travel price comparison website predicts next year’s trends. Cheapflights.co.uk, the UK’s leading travel price comparison website, today released its predictions for the ten destinations set to experience growth in 2006, with Dubrovnik firmly situated in the number one position:

Dubrovnik (115% increase)
Bulgaria (72%)
Honolulu (69%)
Costa Rica (62%)
Eilat (45.5%)
Berlin (32%)
New York (19.7%)
Oman (16%)
Buenos Aires (16%)
Sri Lanka (15.5%)

Cheapflights wins London Business Award

Cheapflights Ltd, the pioneer of online flight deals publishing in 1996 and now the UK's leading international internet-travel-deals company, is pleased to announce that it has won the prestigious London Business Awards Innovative Company of the Year 2005. This award, sponsored by the Royal Bank of Scotland, is given to a company that has dramatically changed the way it does things or that has made an innovative breakthrough in its industry sector.

Cheapflights appoints Chris Cuddy

Cheapflights Ltd, the leading travel price comparison website in the UK, is pleased to announce that it has recruited Christopher ("Chris") Cuddy as Group Managing Director. This follows the appointment in August of David ("Dave") Owczarek as Group Chief Operating Officer. The new MD will report to Group CEO David Soskin and will be based at the Company's Boston, Massachusetts, office.

Cheapflights Ltd. pioneered the concept of online publishing of travel deals in 1996 with its radical Cheapflights.co.uk flights price search and comparison portal. After ten years of profitable growth, Cheapflights announced in May this year that it intended to strengthen and restructure its senior management team to accelerate its next period of growth.

Philip is least favourite

Duke of Edinburgh is worst royal travelling companion according to Cheapflights.co.uk

Prince Philip is the royal British travellers would least like to travel with according to a recent poll conducted by leading travel price comparison website, Cheapflights.co.uk. Of the over 10,000 respondents, 22.7% stated that they would rather give the Duke of Edinburgh the royal wave goodbye than be stuck on holiday with him. Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, came second in the poll ‘winning’ 19.9% of the vote with Prince Edward gaining third place at 13.3%.