Irish airline Ryanair has struck a deal with Kiwi.com, despite previously labelling the online booking platform as a “pirate,” Ryanair revealed on Monday.
This comes a week after Ryanair reported a similar partnership with another online reservation system, Loveholidays.
In early January, at a press conference in Brussels, Ryanair’s CEO Michael O’Leary had criticised online travel agencies such as Kiwi.com, Opodo, eDreams, and lastminute.com.
O’Leary had referred to these platforms as “pirates,” accusing them of overcharging customers by adding fees for services not offered by Ryanair, or sold at a much lower cost, such as “premium” services or seat reservations.
In December, the low-cost airline announced that most online booking platforms, including industry giant Booking.com, would cease offering reservations for its flights.
It predicted that this decision would lead to a short-term decrease in plane occupancy rates by one to two percentage points.
