Converting abandoned bookings and understanding online trends is crucial to grow airlines’ business

The average abandonment rate in travel, where visitors selected flights or hotels but left the website before completing the booking, was 81.3% in 2018. For airlines specifically, the rate is even higher at 87.8%. For context, the average abandonment rate across other sectors (including retail, fashion and finance) is 76.9%.

Now, let's correlate this to cash flow. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the airline industry's revenue linked to passenger activity amounted to $564 billion in 2018, and that's despite an abandonment rate of 87%. It's clear there is a huge opportunity here for airlines - to convert these abandoned bookings and generate higher sales. One of the main reasons for lost sales is due to a poor user experience. If this issue can be tackled, and online abandonment is reduced even slightly, there could be a huge boost to revenue.

To explore these trends further, we recently published a report, Understanding Airline & Travel Booking Trends , which looks in detail at the data behind the travel research and booking process. Why do people abandon bookings? And what steps can websites take to minimize this problem?

This is where our partnership with Amadeus can make a difference. SaleCycle's marketing solutions help airlines reduce and recover abandoned bookings and improve conversion rates online, while Amadeus powers online search all the way through to booking completion and ancillary sales. Together we can help airlines convert more bookings, enhance a trip with complementary services, and promote loyalty programs - ultimately improving the booking process and travelers' online experience.

SaleCycle works with the world's biggest travel companies and has used data tracked from more than 280 million online bookings to capture abandonment trends for this report.

Download the report to receive:

• Data trends from over 90 big and best-known travel brands in the world.
• Tips to improve user experience in the booking funnel.
• Recommendations for leveraging trends to increase future conversion.

We saw retailing as a core theme of the Amadeus Airline Executive Summit in Istanbul a few weeks ago. We're now looking forward to really 'walk the talk' with Amadeus when it comes to converting more bookings for airlines. With this common goal, watch this space as we continue deepening our relationship with Amadeus in the months to come!