“We are cautious, we are looking at what is happening in Ukraine and Greece. Last year our corporate customers did not increase their travel budgets and this year we will try to sell more to such customers,” Antonio Nitu said.
The sales of the agency had gone up in the first half of last year, but the trend did not continue into the second, so Aerotravel did not reach its 7.7% growth target. Aerotravel posted EUR32.5 million revenue in 2014, flat on 2013, its officials said.
Companies make up about 75% to 80% of Aerotravel’s customers, and plane tickets generate more than half of its sales.
“We will have charter flights to Greece, from Bucharest, Cluj and Timisoara again this year. We expect a higher load factor.”
The agency is also selling cruises departing from Constanta and operated by MSC Cruises, one of the largest European cruise lines that carries 1.4 million passengers.
Some of the growth might come from sales of holiday packages online.
“We estimate EUR1 million worth of online sales. We’re already 20% past our budgeted level.”
Aerotravel has been in business since 1998 and has seven offices in six cities: Bucharest, Cluj, Oradea, Timisoara, Sibiu and Brasov. Its owners are Mihai David, former Hidroelectrica general manager, and Quark Investment.
Rivals include Christian Tour, Eurolines/TUI Travel Center, Perfect Tour, Happy Tour, all of which competing on an about EUR500 million market.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)