Opodo

Opodo was founded in 2001 by a consortium of European airlines, including British Airways, Air France, Alitalia, Iberia, KLM, Lufthansa, Aer Lingus, Austrian Airlines and Finnair. The initiative followed attempts by the US-based online travel company Orbitz to expand into the European market, prompting several European carriers to establish their own joint platform.

The founding management team selected by the airlines was led by Giovanni Bisignani, former CEO of Alitalia and Nicolas De Santis, former Chief Marketing Officer of beenz.com, the London-based digital currency startup.

Opodo launched its first website in Germany in November 2001, followed by the United Kingdom in January 2002 and France in April 2002. In 2002, David P. Scowsill was appointed CEO, replacing interim CEO Simon Tucker.

In 2004, Opodo was acquired by Amadeus IT Group for €62 million.

In 2006, Opodo launched its Italian website and introduced “one-way combinable” fares, allowing customers to combine tickets from different airlines within a single booking.

In 2011, Opodo became part of eDreams ODIGEO following the merger of Opodo, eDreams and GoVoyages under private equity ownership.

In 2012, Opodo launched its first 4in1 travel application to search and book flights, hotels, last‑minute deals and holiday packages within a single mobile platform.

In 2026, Opodo carried out a share subscription agreement, representing a capital transaction that supported the company’s ongoing business and investment strategy.

Products and services

Opodo Prime

Opodo Prime is a subscription travel service launched in 2017, that offers members discounted pricing on flights, hotels and holiday packages in exchange for an annual fee.

The service forms part of the subscription programme operated across the eDreams ODIGEO group and contributes to its recurring revenue.

Opodo Prime hotels

In June 2020, as part of the expansion of the Prime travel subscription service operated across the eDreams ODIGEO group, hotel accommodation benefits were added to the programme to book a broad range of properties at discounted rates for the same annual subscription fee.

Flight price index dashboard

In June 2020, Opodo introduced a flight price index dashboard in the UK that compared current airfares with prices from the previous year to help users identify trends in ticket costs. The tool drew on aggregated fare data from hundreds of airlines to provide year‑on‑year price comparisons for consumers.