50% of airlines could disappear within 3 years
With more than 40 airlines, which already went bankrupt in 2020, the disappearance of a majority of these companies is an unfortunately realistic scenario. For example, international flight traffic has lost 88% in France. Airline ticket sites like Kayak start selling train tickets thanks to the solution from French startup Kombo.
The way of getting around has been completely changed by the Covid19. The pandemic makes flights much more complicated: risky border crossings, risks of quarantine and flight cancellations. Although they have benefited from numerous financial aids, already more than 40 airlines declared bankruptcy in 2020, half of them in Europe. The list is growing every day, often with thousands of employees being made redundant. This represents more than 10% of the 290 companies approved by IATA, in less than a year.
But the crisis has also accelerated the environmental awareness among many globetrotters, participating in the development of home office and video meetings. All of these habit changes are long lasting. Air traffic will not come back as before. At this rate, 50% of airlines will go bankrupt within 3 years.
How to adapt when selling plane tickets? Among the examples of transformation of the sector, the American site Kayak is adapting its offer. The flight comparator recently added a “train” section. Its users can now find train and bus tickets referenced by the platform Kombo. Ideal for journeys such as Paris-Toulouse, Paris-Marseille or Paris-Bordeaux, where train and plane are in competition, but also for all shorter journeys.
Kombo supplies European trains The start-up Kombo has the approvals of train companies like SNCF, as well as the technology allowing it to supply train tickets at other sites.
According to Matthieu Marquenet, co-founder and CEO of Kombo: “Paradoxically, we doubled our sales in 2020 compared to 2019. Many flight and accommodation sites have started to take an interest in selling train tickets. We can see that the French want to leave in a cleaner way and less far from home." Already offering international lines thanks to Eurostar or Thalys trains, Kombo is extending its European coverage every month. An argument that seems to have seduced the Kayak metasearch.
