Introduction Airtrade
Wim Butte and André Hesselink established Airtrade in 1989. The two air traffic pioneers started by selling airline tickets to travel agencies. In the same year, they opened the first Vliegwinkel office in Haarlem. Vliegwinkel is a travel agent that specializes in selling airline tickets. For the telephonic sales of airline tickets to consumers, the brand name Teleticket was introduced. In the first year already, Airtrade realized a turnover of 16 million guilders. After this flying start, Airtrade remained on course successfully.

The two founders sold their company to BCD Holdings in 1998, but remained actively involved in the company. Wim Butte is still CEO of Airtrade. Over the past years, other leisure travel companies of BCD in The Netherlands were merged into Airtrade, such as the chain of travel agents VakantieXperts and the travel organization Maduro Travel.

Market leader
In The Netherlands, Airtrade is still market leader in the distribution of airline tickets for tourism. One in five tourist airline tickets in The Netherland is provided by Airtrade. In 2008, Airtrade issued approximately 400,000 tickets through various sales channels.
Today, Airtrade consists of a two divisions, providing services to both the travel sector and to consumers. The Business-to-consumer (B2C) division focuses on the sales of airplane tickets to consumers. The business-to-business division (B2B) offers travel agents, online travel providers and all-round travel organizations large-scale purchasing and professional handling of individual travel components, like airplane tickets, car rental and hotel bookings.

Airtrade strives to stay ahead of new developments in the travel industry. In order to maintain its top position in the years ahead, it constantly invests in technological and commercial innovation.

Business-to-Consumer
The division Business-to-Consumer (B2C) focuses with Vliegwinkel.nl, Hotelwinkel.nl and BudgetAir.nl on the online sale of individual travel components to consumers such as airline tickets, hotels and rental cars. Vliegwinkel is the name of the travel agencies in a number of large cities, specializing in ticket sales. Most tickets are sold through Vliegwinkel.nl, but customers who prefer personal service are still welcome at the ‘physical travel shops’. There are Vliegwinkel shops in Amsterdam, Arnhem, Haarlem, Rotterdam and Utrecht. Consumers who book a ticket at the travel shop, receive their travel documents immediately after booking.

Vliegwinkel.nl is one of the largest online travel providers of the Netherlands. At a glance, the visitor can compare all airlines – including low-cost airlines – and airfares per destination and airport of departure and make reservations on this website. The ticket can be combined with hotel reservations and car rental. The website offers more than 24,000 hotels in hundred countries; the visitor has global access to the supply of the large car rental companies. Furthermore, the visitor can book additional services such airport transportation and tours in foreign cities.

Hotelwinkel.nl offers more than 24,000 hotels in hundred countries. Hotelwinkel.nl has an extremely varied selection - from dormitories to 5-star suites - even in the farthest corners of the world. The offering of accommodations in the Netherlands and neighbouring countries is also well-represented, since it is usually primarily those travellers who are looking to book a weekend get-away who use the Internet to find and book their hotels.
A major advantage of Hotelwinkel.nl is that customers do not have to pay anything up front: the bill is settled at your destination. Additionally, it is even possible to book the day you travel, and in most cases, there are no extra charges for cancellations. Hotelwinkel.nl offers a broad selection and great flexibility.

BudgetAir.nl is the internet brand for low budget tickets. The very low prices are achieved through exclusive price agreements with airline companies. Once a ticket is reserved, one can also book a hotel. BudgetAir gives consumers the possibility to put together and book an affordable travel package by combining the best priced offers for airplane tickets, hotels and car rentals online.

Business-to-Business
The Business-to-Business division (B2B) focuses on the market of travel agents, online travel providers and all-round travel organizations with large-scale purchasing and professional handling of individual travel components, such as tickets, hotels and rental cars. The online reservation system Travel packager and web tools Airtrade has developed itself, play an important role in these activities. This division is also specialised in the handling of reservations. Ranging from the sending of vouchers to laying out tickets at Schiphol. The contact centers where the reservations are being handeled are 365 days a year reachable per phone. A large number of renowned travel companies, online travel providers and travel agents in The Netherlands uses the technology and services provided by Airtrade. Over the past years, Airtrade Holding has reinforced its position through strategic alliances with organizations such as De Jong Intra Vakanties, the ANWB, D-Reizen, Thomas Cook Nederland, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and TUI Nederland.