FlyingPig, travel.co.nz, take off together

The next product group to be offered by FlyingPig will be travel services.

The self-styled Internet superstore confirmed yesterday that it had made an agreement with travel.co.nz to provide scheduling and booking information, including online reservations and sales.

From March, the new travel offerings will appear as an extra tab on the FlyingPig home page and will be presented on a jointly-branded micro-site hosted in Australia by travel.co.nz's parent company travel.com.au.

Travel.co.nz's managing director Greg Southcombe says the FlyingPig deal will differ from travel.com.au's practice of providing a transparent "bookings engine" for branded sites such as Yahoo Travel and Excite Travel in that "there is a degree of exclusivity there. We think that Flying Pig is going to be the biggest superstore on the Internet in New Zealand - we think they're going to be the Amazon of New Zealand. We're putting all our eggs in that basket in terms of e-tailers in New Zealand."

The local travel company has continued to trade as Jetsave Travel since its merger late last year with the Australian firm, but will launch its new travel.co.nz branding with a marketing campaign early next month. It has also established deals to offer its services via the Norcross business portal e://volution and through TVNZ's one.co.nz site.

All three services will carry joint branding with travel.co.nz's partners, says Southcombe.

"Whatever we go into, our brand has to be a big part of it. We see that as being very important."

FlyingPig.co.nz executive chairman Stefan Preston says the partnership allows both companies to maximise the potential of the burgeoning online travel market. "Kiwis love to travel, and we believe New Zealand consumers are ready for a safe, serious and attractive online travel service," says Preston. "Since we launched in November last year FlyingPig.co.nz has become a trusted service provider. We’re well-placed to provide such a travel service alongside our existing categories of books, videos, software and stationery." The service will offer discounts and special deals to registered FlyingPig.co.nz customers - entice them to buy travel guides and armchair travel reading at the same time as they book their tickets.