Irish tech firm OpenJaw to rollout e-commerce across 30 Chinese airlines

22 May 2013

Dublin software company OpenJaw Technologies has secured an alliance with major Chinese travel brand TravelSky that will see it deploy its online travel retailing platform for more than 30 domestic airlines across China.

The 30 airlines will roll out OpenJaw’s t-Retailing technology to enable increased revenues and deeper customer relationships.

The airlines will be able to deliver seamless shopping of flights, hotel, car rental and destination activities on the airline’s own website.

OpenJaw’s CEO Kieron Branagan said the technology platform will enable the airlines to meet customers’ end-to-end travel needs without losing them to third-party websites.

He said the airlines will ultimately benefit from greater ownership of their customers’ travel experiences and booking data, leading to further insights and opportunities to better serve their customers.

Travel commerce and the art of the upsell

“It is widely acknowledged that the potential in online travel retailing in China is significant,” Branagan explained.

“The t-Retail Platform gives TravelSky customers a significant advantage to maximise the commercial opportunity presented by this predicted growth. It enables them to deliver the best user experiences to their customers, while accessing some of the most potent retailing techniques for conversion. Importantly, it also enables them the agility to operate successful online travel services in the fast-paced internet environment.

“We look forward to helping grow this opportunity alongside our TravelSky Technology partners,” said Branagan.

OpenJaw’s technology will enable the airlines to implement the latest online flight selling techniques, including upselling of tickets from economy to premium, dynamic packaging of flight packages and encouraging passengers to switch from a single product like a flight to include hotel stays and tours.

Currently US$11bn worth of travel is booked online in China but by 2016 the value of online travel sales in China is predicted to reach US$48bn per annum.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com