Flight comparison website Skyscanner is to open its first US office on the back of 65% jump in 2012 revenues to £33.5 million.
Skyscanner poised for bid to crack the US
Flight comparison website Skyscanner is to open its first US office on the back of 65% jump in 2012 revenues to £33.5 million.
Co-founder and CEO Gareth Williams said the Edinburgh-based company planned to employ about 10 people in Miami by the end of the year.
Skyscanner already has an 18-person office in Singapore, three employees in Beijing and 175 in Scotland.
Williams said: “Miami will be a base for all of the Americas. Brazil and Argentina will be as important as the US and Canadian markets.”
Traffic to the website grew 84% last year, with more than 30 million visits a month, resulting in bookings for airline partners of more than £2.3 billion.
Company earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation soared 153% to £12 million.
The fast-expanding Asian travel market was expected to continue to drive growth in online flight bookings, Williams said.
“There are no signs of levelling off in growth rates – if anything, they are getting stronger,” he told the Financial Times.
The Miami move will bring Skyscanner into closer competition with larger US-based rival Kayak.
Kayak said in November it had reached agreement to be acquired by Priceline. Kayak’s revenues in the third quarter of 2012 reached $79 million, up 29% year-on-year.