Opodo snaps up two European rivals

European travel agent Opodo, which currently has a presence in France, Germany and the UK, is continuing apace with its spending spree. Just over a month after it bought out French competitor Karavel, the company has just acquired two other online agencies: Travellink, which operates in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland, and Eviaggi, a player in the Italian market.

Opodo has held an interest in Eviaggi since September 2004, according to the company. The value of the deals has not been revealed.

In parallel to the deals, European travel group Amadeus Global Travel Distribution, which provides reservation systems for the travel industry, has reinforced its involvement with Opodo. Amadeus already upped its stake in the travel agent from 16.7 per cent to 55 per cent in June last year.

From now on, Amadeus will hold 74 per cent of Opodo. As a result, the nine airlines that founded Opodo in 2001 (Aer Lingus, Air France, Alitalia, Austrian Airlines, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia, KLM et Lufthansa) have seen their stakes in the firm significantly reduced.