BERLIN & PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--TripActions, the fastest-growing business travel platform trusted by 3,000+ enterprises globally, announced it has landed in Europe and that Lufthansa Group has made a minority investment in the company, kicking off an extensive strategic partnership. TripActions is bringing its industry-disrupting focus on the business traveller to the EU to empower European organisations to deliver a great travel experience for employees while controlling costs. The company’s expansion follows several years of supporting business travellers in EMEA, and is cemented by Lufthansa’s investment through its digital business unit, Lufthansa Innovation Hub. The investment is only its fourth in a tech company, highlighting the unique value, innovation and capabilities TripActions brings to the EU.
“We are excited to enter into this strategic partnership with TripActions to foster modern airline retailing to the benefit of our corporate customers,” said Tamur Goudarzi Pour, Senior Vice President of Revenue Management & Distribution at Lufthansa Group Hub Airlines. “Jointly we aim to develop a unique customer experience and are committed to shaping the industry through our joint distribution innovation.”
“It’s about time that companies in Europe no longer have to compromise with antiquated corporate travel management products and services,” said Ariel Cohen, Co-founder & CEO of TripActions. “We’ve demonstrated in the U.S. that our state-of-the-art travel management technology paired with our best-in-class travel agency service is the only choice for organisations and their road warriors. Our partnerships with forward-thinking supplier partners like Lufthansa will further fuel our rapid expansion by empowering more enterprises and their travellers to seize travel as a strategic lever for growth.”
TripActions differs from legacy players in Europe and globally as it puts the business traveller first. TripActions delivers consumer-like ease-of-use, powerful personalisation, unrivaled inventory choice including European air, hotel, rail and car rental options, and 24/7 travel agents that business travellers love. As a result, organisations achieve high adoption. Coupled with EMEA-first features like carbon impact reporting, centralised billing and billback, European companies get the spend visibility, control and insights they need to optimise their travel programs, save money and fulfill duty of care.
“We are always looking to deliver a win-win-win in corporate travel,” added TripActions’ Cohen. “Our expansion into Europe combined with our strategic partnership with Lufthansa delivers a win for business travellers with expanded inventory choice and transparency. It’s a win for finance leaders and travel managers with greater spend visibility and control. And it’s a win for Lufthansa as we innovate together to delight our joint customers.”
Lufthansa Group is the first strategic investor of TripActions. Together the companies are set to collaborate to proactively shape the distribution and corporate retailing landscape to create the future digital era of travel management companies. Both TripActions and Lufthansa Group are committed to continue working with all industry players to enhance the experience for business travellers.
Today’s news follows the two companies’ recent strategic NDC partnership announcement in November 2019. This extended strategic partnership marks a further important step for corporate customers to benefit from modern airline retailing while providing a better end-to-end experience. Customer value will be increased in various fields of cooperation, including ancillary retailing, corporate products and servicing.
European finance and corporate travel leaders interested in learning how TripActions delivers the most advanced travel management technology together with the best travel agency service can meet with TripActions at The Business Travel Show in London, GBTA Conference in Frankfurt, WebSummit in Lisbon, and at the TripActions TRAVERSE travel + tech festival in London; or visit www.tripactions.co.uk. To join the TripActions team in EMEA, visit the TripActions Careers site.
About TripActions:
We believe being there in person is powerful. It enables employees to build relationships, close deals and drive growth. Fast becoming the default for corporate travel, TripActions is the modern business travel platform that combines state-of-the-art travel management technology with the best travel agency service to delight employees, finance leaders and travel managers alike—all while empowering organisations to seize travel as a strategic lever for culture and growth. Learn more at www.tripactions.co.uk.
About the Lufthansa Group
The Lufthansa Group is an aviation company with operations worldwide. With 142 million passengers in 2018, the Lufthansa Group is number one in Europe’s airline sector. The Lufthansa Group aims to be the first choice for customers, employees, shareholders and partners in the aviation industry and to continue shaping the global aviation market as a key player in the future.
The Lufthansa Group is composed of the three business segments Network Airlines, Eurowings and Aviation Services (comprising the segments Logistics, MRO and Catering). The Group’s Network Carriers comprise Lufthansa, SWISS, Brussels Airlines and Austrian Airlines. With their multi-hub strategy from Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich and Vienna hubs, the Network Airlines offer their passengers a premium product and a comprehensive route network combined with the highest level of travel flexibility. With Eurowings, the Lufthansa Group has an innovative and competitive offering in direct traffic, which addresses both price-sensitive and service-oriented customers with low-cost basic fares and additional service options that can be booked flexibly. The aviation services are all global market leaders in their individual industries. This way, the Lufthansa Group has found success in further areas of the aviation business.
As of summer 2019, the Lufthansa Group’s airlines currently serve 318 destinations in 102 countries on five continents. The Group’s total fleet comprises 763 aircraft, employs around 135,000 personnel and generated a revenue of EUR 35.8 billion in 2018.
About the Lufthansa Innovation Hub
The Lufthansa Innovation Hub (LIH) is the digitalization spearhead of the Lufthansa Group and links the world's largest aviation group with the relevant key players in the global Travel & Mobility Tech ecosystem. In this role, the activities of the Hub include the initiation of strategic partnerships between the Lufthansa Group airlines and relevant digital companies, while also developing new in-house digital products and services. Their activities always have a strict focus on the needs of travelers and an emphasis on the iterative validation of business model innovations, as well as close collaboration with serial entrepreneurs, investors, and existing start-ups. The head office of the Lufthansa Innovation Hub is in Berlin and, since mid-2019, they also operate from locations in Singapore and Shanghai, China. In June 2018, the company was awarded the title of "Best Digital Lab in Germany" by the Capital business magazine for the second time in a row.
