Skift Take
Budget airlines' strategy of focusing on direct bookings allows them to grab a larger share of web traffic and gain ground in the direct booking wars.
In terms of airline web traffic, low-cost carriers are leading the pack, namely Southwest in the U.S., Ryanair and easyJet in the UK, and SpiceJet in India.
More and more, airlines are lowering prices and engaging with customers directly, to bypass those online travel agencies (OTAs) and offline agents, and try to win the direct booking wars.
In a compilation by analytics firm SimilarWeb of the top ten most-visited airline sites in the U.S., UK, and India, major international brand British Airways was the only one hitting all three lists.
We’ve found SimilarWeb’s traffic stats to be a relatively good barometer of web activity and much more accurate than other traffic comparison sites — at least as far as proportional comparison goes.
Note: This is focused on individual airline sites exclusively, and excludes OTAs that book airfare, vacation packages, and more.
Below are charts featuring the top ten from each market. We’ve highlighted the brand with the highest mobile usage in each: Spirit.com, Emirates.com, and AirAsia.com. Look below each chart for takeaways.
Top 10 U.S. Airline Sites
| # | Site | Combined Traffic | Desktop Traffic | Mobile Traffic | Mobile Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | southwest.com | 44,951,568 | 26,462,034 | 18,489,534 | 41.13% |
| 2 | aa.com | 30,353,743 | 17,793,749 | 12,559,994 | 41.38% |
| 3 | delta.com | 25,477,176 | 15,627,120 | 9,850,055 | 38.66% |
| 4 | united.com | 23,973,270 | 15,627,120 | 8,346,150 | 34.81% |
| 5 | jetblue.com | 12,069,181 | 6,863,036 | 5,206,145 | 43.14% |
| 6 | spirit.com | 7,482,543 | 3,726,656 | 3,755,887 | 50.20% |
| 7 | alaskaair.com | 5,906,645 | 3,776,763 | 2,129,881 | 36.06% |
| 8 | flyfrontier.com | 5,567,545 | 3,152,519 | 2,415,026 | 43.38% |
| 9 | virginamerica.com | 3,107,793 | 2,117,700 | 990,094 | 31.86% |
| 10 | britishairways.com | 1,739,540 | 1,334,922 | 404,618 | 23.26% |
U.S. Mobile and Desktop Data – June 2016
The Takeaway: As Americans lean toward domestic travel rather than international, Southwest — a budget airline that avoids OTAs — is aptly ahead in web traffic. Another low-cost airline, Spirit, grabbed the largest mobile share.
Top 10 UK Airline Sites
| # | Site | Combined Traffic | Desktop Traffic | Mobile Traffic | Mobile Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ryanair.com | 13,915,781 | 7,114,023 | 6,801,759 | 48.88% |
| 2 | easyjet.com | 8,954,378 | 4,838,582 | 4,115,796 | 45.96% |
| 3 | wizzair.com | 7,290,601 | 3,244,228 | 4,046,373 | 55.50% |
| 4 | britishairways.com | 6,378,640 | 4,001,593 | 2,377,046 | 37.27% |
| 5 | virgin-atlantic.com | 1,219,835 | 716,261 | 503,575 | 41.28% |
| 6 | emirates.com | 1,179,392 | 498,318 | 681,075 | 57.75% |
| 7 | norwegian.com | 881,114 | 419,642 | 461,473 | 52.37% |
| 8 | klm.com | 811,928 | 457,503 | 354,425 | 43.65% |
| 9 | lufthansa.com | 640,227 | 374,681 | 265,546 | 41.48% |
| 10 | aerlingus.com | 604,102 | 260,787 | 343,316 | 56.83% |
UK Mobile and Desktop Data – June 2016
The Takeaway: With the pro-Brexit vote at the end of June, and the subsequent weakening of the pound, international travel may get tougher and more expensive for UK citizens. Those who can still afford it may rely on budget carriers like Ryanair, easyJet, and Wizz Air more than ever.
Top 10 India Airline Sites
| # | Site | Combined Traffic | Desktop Traffic | Mobile Traffic | Mobile Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | jetairways.com | 3,520,569 | 2,007,945 | 1,512,624 | 42.97% |
| 2 | spicejet.com | 2,473,281 | 1,516,292 | 956,990 | 38.69% |
| 3 | airindia.in | 1,872,278 | 1,213,343 | 658,935 | 35.19% |
| 4 | airasia.com | 1,871,053 | 1,063,367 | 807,686 | 43.17% |
| 5 | goair.in | 946,199 | 596,852 | 349,347 | 36.92% |
| 6 | emirates.com | 754,704 | 529,722 | 224,982 | 29.81% |
| 7 | airvistara.com | 525,378 | 354,961 | 170,417 | 32.44% |
| 8 | qatarairways.com | 481,668 | 292,117 | 189,551 | 39.35% |
| 9 | etihad.com | 388,372 | 241,884 | 146,488 | 37.72% |
| 10 | britishairways.com | 251,777 | 188,508 | 63,269 | 25.13% |
India Mobile and Desktop Data – June 2016
The Takeaway: Since the Indian government loosened restrictions in mid-June, allowing some domestic airlines to fly overseas, we may see Indian airlines growing and catching up to their counterparts in the UK and U.S. Another budget airline, AirAsia, came out ahead in mobile share.
This data is provided by SimilarWeb. Read more about SimilarWeb’s data and services on its blog.
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Tags: british airways, easyjet, similarweb, southwest airlines, spicejet
Photo credit: A Southwest Airlines jet lands at Love Field in Dallas. The airline's website had more web traffic than any other U.S. airline site in June 2016. 159656 / 159656