Cheapflights Ltd., the leading UK and North American internet travel media company which pioneered online flight price comparison, is pleased to announce that Dr. Brian Fitzgerald has joined the Company in the newly created role of Global Analytics Manager.
Based in London and reporting to Group Managing Director Chris Cuddy, Brian will lead Cheapflights' activities to build and manage a common, trusted, global tracking and reporting platform for the Group world-wide. He will develop the analytic tools and capabilities to help maintain and accelerate the rapid global growth already achieved and currently planned.
Brian brings more than ten years of experience in a variety of analytic, reporting, and technical roles. His work includes acting as Product Manager for Search Reporting at IAC Search and Media (Ask.com), and Technical Computing Manager at Marconi Applied Technologies. Previously, Brian also served as a Research Scientist for more than five years with a focus on thermo-physics at National Physical laboratory and environmental radiation at Clarkson University.
Brian earned his Diploma (Applied Science) from Dublin Institute of Technology and his B.Sc. (Applied Science) from Trinity College Dublin, his Ph.D. (Experimental Physics) from University College Dublin, and is studying for his MBA from Open University. He also sits on the Internet Technical Group Forum, run by ABCe, the Internet industry traffic metric auditors. This group advises JICWEBS, the industry steering council on technical aspects of proposed traffic metric standards.
Commenting, Cheapflights' Group Managing Director Chris Cuddy said:
"As an established, profitable and successful media business on both sides of the Atlantic, Cheapflights has utilised sophisticated management tools to help grow the Company. However, we now plan further international expansion, where the provision and analysis of data from many metrics will be essential in meeting the multi-national challenges ahead. Brian's appointment is therefore a vital part of our strategy." He added: "We have always been fortunate in attracting incredible talent to all our departments and this has been an undoubted factor in our continuing success. I am looking forward to Brian's important contribution to the next phase of Cheapflights' strategy to become a global brand."
Brian Fitzgerald continued:
"Cheapflights has an enviable history of self-funded growth to-date and I am looking forward to participating in the next exciting stage of the Company's expansion internationally."
END
Contacts
Cheapflights Ltd:
John Barrington-Carver; Corporate PR
Tel: +44 (0) 7831 655 630;
e-mail: corporate-pr@cheapflights.com
Rooster (Consumer Enquiries)
Cass Helstrip, Acct. Dir.
Tel +44 (0)20 7953 8779
Fax +44 (0)20 7953 8780
email cass.helstrip@rooster.co.uk
Notes to Editors
Cheapflights Ltd.
www.cheapflights.co.uk: Founded in 1996 and profitable since launch, Cheapflights is the UK’s leading UK flight price comparison website and pioneered the travel price comparison model on the Internet. It also introduced the pay-per-click business model to the UK in 2000.
Cheapflights is one of the few British internet companies successfully to establish an operation in the USA www.cheapflights.com. Launched in May 2003, and currently with 2.6 million unique users a month, Cheapflights.com is already in the top 13 US travel sites (Hitwise US).
In April 2007, Cheapflights launched in Canada (www.cheapflights.ca).
In May 2007 Cheapflights appointed LongAcre Partners, one of Europe’s leading independent corporate finance advisory houses focused on the internet and media markets, to advise it on its options in relation to a "Liquidity Event" during 2007.
Cheapflights does not sell any flight deals or travel products. Each day, it sorts millions of flight prices from hundreds of travel partners worldwide. It then publishes a filtered current list of the best deals. These deals can be accessed online or by telephone direct with the advertiser from links or information on our site. This makes Cheapflights one of the most comprehensive independent online publishers of flight deals available. It also has well established opt-in subscription weekly newsletters on both sides of the Atlantic with more than four million subscribers. The Company has launched UK and USA "Flight News" blog sites, news.cheapflights.co.uk; and news.cheapflights.com. These have become major interactive communities to inform and assist travel consumers on both sides of the Atlantic.
Hitwise's statistics show Cheapflights as being the UK's top vertical search and price comparison site for flights for the past 17 quarters. Cheapflights now accounts for just under 1 per cent of all UK PPC advertising and 3.2 per cent of all UK online travel display adverts according to recently released IAB figures. The Company's unique user numbers reached almost six million globally in January 2007.
Cheapflights estimates that it generated travel product sales of over US$1.8 billion for its advertising partners in 2006. These advertisers read like a Who’s Who of the travel world - ranging from British Airways, Thomson, Expedia, Travelocity, TUI and Thomas Cook to specialist operators such as STA Travel, Mark Warner and Iglu.com.
In January 2007, Cheapflights invested in the Icelandic global flights planner, dohop ltd and is represented on the dohop.com Board. The dohop.com free website enables travellers to research available flight routes and scheduled departures and arrivals worldwide and operates as a separate business to Cheapflights. It facilitates journey planning and is particularly helpful for finding unusual flight connections.
Cheapflights' status as an independent online travel price search and comparison and travel news site makes it a natural starting point for finding travel deals and up-to-date travel industry information from a neutral source on both sides of the Atlantic.
