Skyscanner Traffic Spikes Amidst European Strike Chaos
After a week of chaos for airlines in Europe, Skyscanner looks at the effect its had on flight search traffic
Travel search site Skyscanner has seen its traffic spike during one of the worst weeks for the European airline industry, as wide ranging industrial action has brought travel chaos to Germany, Greece and Paris, and news of a fresh BA strike was announced. “Skyscanner always sees an increase in user traffic during periods of flight disruption as thousands of travellers turn to our site to help them find alternative cheap flights. This week has seen higher than normal traffic on certain routes as several completely unrelated strikes have brought massive disruption to passengers” “Skyscanner always sees an increase in user traffic during periods of flight disruption as thousands of travellers turn to our site to help them find alternative cheap flights. This week has seen higher than normal traffic on certain routes as several completely unrelated strikes have brought massive disruption to passengers” said Barry Smith, Skyscanner Co-founder and Business Development Director.
Lufthansa pilots striking on Monday grounded much of Germany’s air traffic, causing a 13% spike on Skyscanner.de, whilst a four day air traffic control strike in Paris which started on Wednesday 24th has disrupted medium and short-haul flights from the French capital as well as flights to Paris itself, and lead to a 11% spike in users on Skyscanner.fr.
Meanwhile, industrial action and widespread protests in Greece have paralysed the country’s transport system. Greek airspace has been closed to all flights, causing a 21% rise in flight searches for Greek routes on Skyscanner, despite all flights to and from Greece being cancelled.
Additional uncertainty for air passengers was added yesterday as BA’s Unite union voted in favour of a strike, although the exact dates of the industrial action are yet to be announced
