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ESky Group
Polish travel technology company From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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eSky Group is a Polish-based travel technology company that owns and operates several online travel agency brands in 50 markets across Europe, the Americas, and Africa.[1][2][3] The company provides dynamic packages for holidays and city breaks,[4] standalone flights, accommodations, and other travel services.[5]
The Group operates under the eSky (Europe, North America, Africa), eDestinos (Latin America) and Thomas Cook brands.[6] The company also holds Travel Agent Accreditation of the International Air Transport Association (no. 63210803).[7]
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eSky Group was founded in Poland in 2004 and initially handled trips as part of the Work and Travel program.[8] Since 2005, the company has been selling airline tickets through its online platform,[9] with approximately 550 airlines included in its flight inventory under agreements.[10] In 2009, an online hotel reservation system and travel insurance sales were launched, and in 2015, a car rental service.
In June 2017, 6.3% of eSky Group shares were bought for PLN 15.6 million by Wirtualna Polska Group,[11] which in March 2020 sold its eSky share package under the put option.[12]
In 2022, the company’s owner changed,[13] with MCI Capital listed private equity took a 55% stake in eSky Group.[14][15]
The founders of eSky Group remained the controlling shareholders, holding a total of 45% of the company's shares, and the transaction amounted to approximately PLN 158 million and also included the recapitalization of the company.[16]
In 2023, due to a business transformation towards a package travel provider,[17] the Polish OTA switched its focus from flights aggregation to combining flights and accommodations into city breaks and holidays packages.[18] The same year, the company reported revenue of more than €800m – an increase of 42% year-on-year – with around 3.3m customers using its services.[19] eSky Group's EBITDA amounted to €18.7m.[3]
International operations
In 2023, eSky Group expanded its payment processing capabilities in Latin America and Africa through a signed partnership with dLocal, a cross-border payments platform.[20]
In April 2024, eSky Group established a partnership with Ryanair, Europe's low-cost carrier, becoming one of the first authorised online travel agencies to provide Ryanair flights, seats, and baggage.[21] The deal guaranteed passengers that their contact and payment information is provided from the travel agent directly to the airline.[22] After 12 months of cooperation between eSky Group and Ryanair the agreement was extended for a further two years.[23]
At the same time, the travel platform started offering package holidays and city breaks in the United Kingdom.[24] This followed the passing the UK's Civil Aviation Authority approval, and the company covered its packages with the Air Travel Organisers' Licensing (ATOL) protection scheme (no. 12520).[25]
In September 2024, eSky Group acquired Thomas Cook from Hong Kong’s Fosun Tourism Group, excluding its operations in China and India.[18] The company expanded from an online flight aggregator to a provider of package holidays and city breaks in over 50 countries.[26]
On 6 February 2025, Andrzej Kozłowski, former vice-president and CFO, took over as CEO of eSky Group, replacing Łukasz Habaj, who stepped down for health reasons and remained on the Supervisory Board.[27] Kozłowski has been with the company since 2015 and has been on its board of directors since 2016.[28]
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References
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