TLabs Showcase on travel startups featuring Australia-based map-led flight search system GetFlight.
Who and what are you (including personnel and backgrounds)?
GetFlight is the first and only website that tracks sale fares for each of the four major domestic airlines, and some of the largest international carriers to operate in and out of Australia.
We use proprietary programming to track any and all sale fares for Qantas, Jetstar, Tiger Airways, Virgin Australia, Air New Zealand, Singapore Airlines and V Australia, and we update our website and send email alerts instantly, no matter when the sale fares go live. We don’t charge booking fees and are completely free to use.
GetFlight is an independent Sydney-based initiative founded by Ian Cumming and his team of travel and technology experts, including Don Takaya and Gill Hazel. Cumming, the principal founder, previously founded Travellr.com, which he sold to The World Nomads Group in 2009.
What financial support did you have to launch the business?
We're backed by a leading Australian technology partner, Insight4.com, which was the initial investor in GetFlight.
What problem are you trying to solve?
We researched that there was a demand for a site where consumers could be notified of sale fares and book them directly from the airline. We believe there's a lot of potential here. There are a lot of savvy shoppers in Australia and this site is geared toward them.
Describe the business, core products and services?
We provide a sale fare aggregating service that allows busy and Australians to easily find or receive the lowest-priced air fare to book their travel.
Who are your key customers and users at launch?
Australians flyers who are interested in sale airfares.
Did you have customers validate your idea before investors?
We trialled the website with more than 50 Australian consumers prior to our official launch.
What is the business AND revenue model, strategy for profitability?
Our current business is focused on growing subscriber numbers. We have a launch partner, Travel Insurance Direct (tid.com.au) who provide us with revenue from insurance sales from our site.
We're looking to add more partners in the future to display sponsored deals for other travel services.
SWOT analysis – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats?
Strengths:
We cater to busy, deal-savvy Australians who are planning to book their flights in advance and looking to compare the lowest sale fares.
Weaknesses:
- We're not everything to everyone. If you are a business traveller or if you book flights at short notice then you wouldn't currently benefit from GetFlight.
Opportunities:
- We are looking to add more airlines to our inventory which will provide even greater price comparison for consumers across a wider variety of airlines and routes. As low cost carriers continue to compete with established airlines on price, there will always be sale fares for us to alert to consumers about.
Threats:
- The growth of the aviation industry is always at risk... volcanoes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters continue to affect airlines' bottom lines. We rely on airlines being able to afford to price competitively below their regular fares.
Who advised you your idea isn't going to be successful and why didn't you listen to them?No-one.
What is your success metric 12 months from now?
There are many metrics we're looking at, but ultimately it's subscriber and referral to airline growth that are the key metrics for us.
We want to ensure we keep building the business, our content and our subscriber base consistently and maintain growth stability.
We have started off well though - as of 7 June, GetFlight.com.au had over 40,000 unique visitors, gaining more than 2,900 email subscribers and sending out nearly 11,000 targeted email alerts.
The site sent more than 58,000 direct search referrals to airlines for travellers to book their flights directly, proving it an effective resource for consumers and carriers alike.
Here is a clip showing what happened on launch day, after the site was featured on leading Australia media site, News.com.au:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFslNT1s-co
NB: TLabs Showcase is part of the wider TLabs project from Tnooz.