Directski.com bucks the trend

While airlines are closing and tour operators are consolidating their charter flights this winter, Directski.com is one ski tour operator that is announcing an expansion in the number of flight seats being offered to skiers with the addition of two charter flights from Heathow and a 50% expansion in their flying capacity this winter.

Dublin based Directski.com, who have taken the UK market by storm since they launched in the winter of 2000 with a no-brochure, internet-only presence, have just announced two new charter flights from Heathrow to Salzburg and Geneva, starting in December 2008.

The company’s growth has to date been impressive, with 25% increase in passenger numbers between the 2006/7 and the 2007/8 season, in a mature market where many ski tour operators are losing market share, and a planned 50% growth in flights for 2008/9.

Directski.com’s Managing Director Anthony Collins said “Directski.com is the fastest growing UK tour operators and is a case of an Irish company doing rather well over here, having taken on the UK ski market and secured a place among the top ten biggest ski holiday companies in just 8 years.

“This winter we’ve just put on two additional flights from Heathrow. Most ski companies only operate charter flights from Gatwick, which means anyone on the west side of London has a far longer journey, so we’re after skiers who will find the Heathrow flight far more convenient and this is where we’ll score significant market growth.”

The new flights into Salzburg and Geneva will serve resorts throughout the French Alps, the Austrian Salzkammergut and Tirol provinces.

Anthony Collins continued “The reason for our success is undoubtedly because from the outset we kept prices very keen, we avoided producing unnecessary marketing materials, we’ve never produced a brochure and we’ve built a reputation for being the online ski specialist. As online booking became the `norm’, we were there at the outset with a sound booking engine and a website that was driven by our IT backgrounds”.

For more information, log on to Direcski.com.