NETEASE.COM SUSPENDS AIR TICKET BOOKING SERVICE

AsiaInfo Services
04-21-2011
NetEase.com Suspends Air Ticket Booking Service

BEIJING, Apr 21, 2011 (SinoCast Daily Business Beat via COMTEX) -- NetEase.com Inc. (Nasdaq: NTES), one of the renowned online service providers in China, has suspended operation of its newly-launched air ticket booking service because of a termination of cooperation with Junli.net.

In a statement made on its website lately, NetEase.com said that it would pause the operation of its air ticket booking service as part of a business adjustment. The suspension, disclosed Liu Youcai (transliterated), public relations manager for NetEase.com, comes as a result of a bankruptcy of Junli.net, the sole supplier of air tickets for NetEase.com.

It is still unclear when the business adjustment will come to an end, according to Mr. Liu, declining to make a comment on the reported talks between NetEase.com and other air ticket suppliers in the country. There are widespread reports that NetEase.com is in talks with the Junli.net peers for possible cooperation in air ticket booking service.

Such a suspension comes not than 100 days after the Internet portal operator made its expansion into the online traveling service market heard with the launch of an air ticket booking service at the end of 2010. NetEase.com, based in Beijing, announced that it would make low-priced air tickets from big airlines available to netizens nationwide.

Different from some of its peers, NetEase.com chose to become a distributor of the big air ticket agent for a tapping into the air ticket booking serivce. Taobao.com, an online shopping platform under the aegis of e-commerce heavyweight Alibaba Group, cut into the air ticket booking service market by rolling out an integrated traveling service platform.

NetEase.com, as a smaller air ticket distributor under Junli.net, will find it difficult to press ahead with its air ticket booking service in the formidable competition after its third-party air ticket distributor partner runs short of capital, pointed out a market observer. Junli.net, based in Shanghai, is one of the biggest air ticket distributors in the country.

Nevertheless, NetEase.com does not expect to generate a big profit from the online air ticket sales platform, according to Mr. Liu, noting that the company meant to bring low-priced air tickets within the reach of online service users in the country with a rollout of the service.

Statistics show that online traveling reservation service in China added up to CNY 6.16 billion in the entire 2010, hiking 58.4% from CNY 3.89 billion in the previous year.

(USD 1 = CNY 6.52)

Source: www.nf.nfdaily.cn (April 21, 2011)

KEYWORD: BEIJING INDUSTRY KEYWORD: Internet & Online Services & Media SUBJECT CODE: Internet & Online Services
Online/Direct Banking
SinoCast China Business Daily news
SinoCast China IT Watch
air ticket
booking
platform
online traveling
adjustment
suspension

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