A research study submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration, School of Management

Research Studies Project Report (M.B.A.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2005

Online travel is increasing all over the world. Air bookings generate more revenue than any other on line travel product. An increasing number of airlines provide ticketing through their web sites. There are other online travel sites where tickets can be booked along with other travel products like hotels, cars etc. Tickets booking directly at the airline web sites have threatened the existence of the online travel agents and there are conflicting predictions about the future of the airline web sites versus other online travel web sites. Internet has changed the rules of the game in the travel industry and an understanding of the customer is important for firms to adopt their business models to the changing environment. Setting up a web site takes a lot of investment and therefore all the on line travel players need to know how and why customers choose a web site to buy air tickets before devising their Internet strategies. The present study found that customers prefer airline web sites over other online travel web sites. Price is the most important reason why customers select a web site but this is not where airlines are perceived to do significantly better over other online travel agents. Speed, ease of transaction and trust are the reasons why customers prefer airline web sites to other online travel agents.