In the news: Peakwork’s investment in Chinese tech firm Zhouyou, AirAsiaBIG’s partnership with Kiwi.com, Sabre’s new executive appointments
Distribution: Peakwork expands China’s presence with investment in Chinese partner Zhouyou Technology
German software provider Peakwork has acquired a stake in its strategic partner Zhouyou Technology to accelerate its dynamic packaging (DP) and the expansion of the leisure travel network to serve the Chinese market.
The price and terms of the investment have not been disclosed.
Chongqing-based Zhouyou, which was established in 2017, has been working with Peakwork to deploy the latter’s DP and distribution technology in China since its formation.
The partnership enables Asian travellers to book travel services from overseas travel retailers such as TUI, Thomas Cook and Kayak, as well as allows overseas tour operators to source from Chinese suppliers and offer dynamic packaging solutions to Chinese airlines.
Last year the two partners launched the first Chinese website, Luckytrip, based on Peakwork technology. Chinese travellers using the site can search and book holiday packages dynamically bundled with travel offers from the Peakwork partner network.
“The number of travel offers will increase in the next month as more and more Chinese partners are connected to the new technology,” said Peakwork.
In the past month, Peakwork technology has been adapted to meet the Chinese market requirements, and is hosted in the Alibaba Cloud platform.
“We see the potential for our technology and are very excited about ongoing and future technology implementations in China, said Jan Gerlach, CEO of Peakwork.
“We will soon enable business connectivities from our European network partners to the major Chinese sales channels to offer a next level of global distribution.”
Airlines: AirAsia BIG teams up with Kiwi.com in loyalty push
AirAsia’s loyalty programme, AirAsia BIG, has partnered with Kiwi.com, a Czech low cost flight booking engine, to offer more points to members on all non-AirAsia flight bookings and itineraries.
In addition, BIG members will have access to more flight options as Kiwi.com, powered by proprietary algorithm, allows users to combine flights from over 500 airlines (virtual interlining) including many that do not normally cooperate.
In a statement the low cost carrier said the partnership forms part of its digital transformation and the development of the airline’s travel and lifestyle platform BIGLIFE.
“BIG member benefits will only get bigger and better, as we continue to develop and integrate more guest-obsessed travel and lifestyle products and services,” AirAsia BIG CEO Spencer Lee commented.
“This partnership allows us to push boundaries when it comes to new ways of earning BIG Points.”
Kiwi.com CEO Oliver Dlouhý added the tie-up with AirAsia was a “clear demonstration” of the company’s commitment to connect travellers from across the world in a convenient way.
Kiwi.com was established in April 2012 as Skypicker and was funded by angel investment from well-known Czech entrepreneur Jiri Hlavenka. In December 2013, the company received an investment from Touzimsky Kapital Group and acquired WhichAirline.com, a flight search engine.
According to data on its website, Kiwi.com has 90 000 000+ daily search queries, 25,000 seats sold per day and 8,000 daily bookings. In 2017 it recorded a turnover of US$925 million.
People: Sabre boosts management team with new appointees
Sabre Corporation has appointed two new executives, one to take charge of online travel and the other to grow the Middle East business.
Sean McDonald is Sabre’s new vice president, online travel for its Travel Network business.
In his new role McDonald will lead worldwide sales, commercial operations, business development and solution delivery for online travel agencies (OTAs), metasearch engines and other digital travel companies.
The seasoned travel technology executive joined Sabre from technology company BD4travel where he was the chief commercial officer. Prior to that, McDonald was chief sales officer at Secret Escapes, and also served as senior vice president sales at Expedia Affiliate Network (EAN)
Based in London, McDonald will report to Roshan Mendis, chief commercial officer of Sabre Travel Network.
Meanwhile Abdul-Razzaq Iyer is appointed to lead Sabre Travel Network Middle East business as its vice president.
He will help drive business growth for agency customers and also be responsible for increasing Sabre’s footprint in the Middle East, including high-growth markets such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
Iyer has been with Sabre since 2008, and has held various positions in business consulting and sales. He was also a senior director in the Strategic Business Development team in Sabre’s Singapore office.
Prior to Sabre Iyer held positions at BNP and Ernst & Young, and has worked in the Middle East, Far East and Europe.
• Featured image credit: zhuyufang/Getty Images
