Booking.com, an Amsterdam-based online travel company, has announced the acquisition of Etraveli Group, one of its flight partners, for $1.83 billion.
Booking Holdings announced that it had signed an agreement to buy the company with funds managed by CVC Capital Partners. The deal is subject to regulatory approvals and closing conditions, as is typical. Booking has made two acquisitions in the last two weeks, the first being the $1.2 billion purchase of hotel wholesaler and distributors Getaroom.
Booking Holdings’ Priceline business in the United States has offered flights since its inception in 1997, but the parent company’s flagship Booking.com, which dates back to 1996, has avoided flights until recently. Booking.com’s flights business was launched with the help of Etraveli.
Flights are now a key growth driver for Booking. Flight bookings increased 131 percent in the third quarter, which ended September 30, compared to the same period in pre-pandemic 2019. The surge was aided by Priceline and Booking.com’s new plane ticket service.
ETraveli, like many other Booking Holdings brands such as Booking.com, Kayak, Priceline, and Agoda, will continue to operate independently when the deal closes, and ETraveli will remain based in Sweden. It employs about 1,000 people.
ETraveli is a technology company that connects airline inventory with partners like Google Flights. Gotogate, Mytrip, and Flightnetwork are some of the company’s consumer websites.
News Credit: Tech.eu
Image Credit: Skift
