The internet

eCommerce plays a vital part in the easyJet business plan, and is critical to its ongoing success. As a low-cost operation, controlling the cost of doing business is crucial to the airline's ability to offer low fares. Because the Internet provides the most cost-effective distribution channel, easyJet has aggressively pursued its strategy of encouraging passengers to book their seats online, ensuring that 98% of its seats are now sold online.

Some of the ways in which easyJet incentivises people to book their cheap flights online are:

• Customers booking online receive a discount of £7.50 for each leg of a journey. easyJet first pioneered the concept of offering a discount to Internet customers ensuring the cheapest flights are always available online, an initiative that has been widely copied by competitors.
• The online flight search not only allows customers to view fares by the date requested, but also offers to see the cheapest flights over a two week period.
• easyJet was the first low-cost airline to offer passengers the opportunity to view their bookings online, make flight transfers and name changes online for a discounted transfer fee, and request duplicate confirmation emails via the Internet.
• An additional online feature to offer maximum convenience to the airline’s passengers is the possibility to reschedule flight bookings during disruption from the comfort of their own home, taking away the need to be at the airport at such times.
• easyJet was the first low fares airline to offer online check in allowing people to print their boarding pass before setting out for the airport, taking away the need to stand in the check in queue.
• Adding Speedy Boarding during the online flight booking process gives passengers the opportunity to be among the first to board the flight, ahead of the regular boarding groups.
• Any easyJet promotions are exclusive to the Internet, so that customers must get online if they wish to take advantage of special discounted sales fares.