Six Successful Months of Thomsonfly.com from Coventry Airport

11.10.2004 Airline Marks Six Months of Flying - Since commencing passenger flights from Coventry Airport on March 31 this year, Thomsonfly.com has flown over 350,000 sector passengers.

As it celebrates six months of flying the company has provided an insight into its customer demographics, booking trends and onboard passenger feedback. Thomsonfly.com surveyed its passengers in-flight in the month of August. Over 7000 questionnaires were collected, providing some interesting information about the passengers.

Repeat booking - 21% of passengers surveyed in August had flown with the airline previously - with a quarter of these having flown four times or more during the airline’s first six months of operation. Booking information demonstrates that Thomsonfly.com has already established a loyal passenger base. The data reveals that most frequent flyer has flown 16 times with the airline. Business travellers were most likely to be repeat bookers - almost half had flown with the airline before.

Reason for travel - Over three quarters of customers were travelling on leisure, the remainder were visiting friends and family or travelling on business. Jersey had the highest proportion of passengers visiting friends and family. Coventry and Jersey were linked by passenger flights for numerous years, starting in the 1960s - which has contributed to a migratory flow between the two.

Incoming tourism - Thomsonfly.com has carried over 35,000 inbound passenger sectors - the top five destinations for inbound travellers (in descending order are) Jersey, Valencia, Malaga, Marseille and Rome. These travellers benefit the economy of the region.

Convenience and value - Value for money and the convenience of flying from Coventry were significant factors in the decision making process for Thomsonfly.com customers with these being scored as excellent. With over 91% of bookings made online contributing to Thomsonfly.com keeping  its overheads low and therefore continuing to offer low fares to customers into the future.

Travel companions - For the most part passengers departing the airport were travelling in pairs with another adult (44%) with one in ten people travelling alone.  More than half of all passengers were aged between 35 and 45, which fits with the national trend as the most likely to book their travel independently on the internet.

Duration of stay - Customer feedback showed that people are not just using the flights for short breaks but also for longer holidays. Booking data showed that on average Naples was the destination with the longest durational stay.

Accommodation - 25 % of customers who had flown with Thomsonfly.com previously were visiting their own apartment which reflects the trend towards overseas property ownership - which is up 14%* on last year.  The most popular accommodation choice, for a third of Thomsonfly.com customers, was a hotel stay.

Business travellers - The most popular routes for business trips were Jersey, Marseille and Naples. Many business people on the Coventry to Jersey route have taken advantage of the opportunity to depart on the morning flight, returning on the evening flight - taking advantage of the double daily frequency. Business travellers were most likely to book late with almost half booking within seven days of departure. The most popular booking time across all passengers was three to six months before departure undoubtedly - motivated by the low fares offered to early bookers.

Alex Hunter, Chief Commercial Office, of Thomsonfly.com commented: “Since we started flying from Coventry in March we have had great feedback from our customers. The bookings speak for themselves showing the success of Thomsonfly.com and the demand for the service we are providing. This information can enable us to tailor the service and operation in to the future from Coventry and our forthcoming bases.”

For more information about Thomsonfly.com flights visit www.thomsonfly.com or call 0870 1900 737.

*Government survey by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.