From email bookings to 65% online in a year
How a family-owned Galápagos air taxi went from cash, calls, and PayPal links to a full e-commerce airline, opening a direct sales channel and a new ancillary revenue stream without adding staff.
Email and phone calls a year ago. Today, two out of three passengers book online and almost half buy something extra. Same team.
Regional airline operations, digitized
A regional airline operating inter-island flights across the Galápagos. Before Farel, every booking, payment, and passenger handoff was managed manually - email, phone, cash, bank transfers, PayPal links. ESAV needed to structure operations, open a direct sales channel, and introduce new revenue streams, all without growing the team.
- Launched
- 2007
- Type
- Premier air taxi
- Ownership
- Family-owned
- Fleet
- Small aircraft (5–9 seats)
- Routes
- Inter-island (Galápagos)
- Mission
- Connect the Galápagos through sustainable air taxi flights
- Website
- esavairlines.com
Running an airline without a system was a challenge
Operations fully dependent on manual coordination.
Manual bookings
Every reservation handled by email or phone. No availability check, no real-time inventory.
Fragmented payments
Cash, bank transfers, and PayPal links handled case by case. No reconciliation, no audit trail.
No direct sales channel
No website, no online booking. Passengers had to find ESAV before ESAV could sell to them.
No ancillary revenue
No baggage, seats, or transfers sold. Every booking generated only the base fare.
How Farel answered, point by point
A digital airline in weeks, not a multi-year IT project.
What changed, function by function
The same airline, run a different way.
A full end-to-end airline system, not a process
One commerce platform replacing email threads, phone calls, and PayPal links.
Inventory and booking system
Schedules, availability, and reservations in one place. Every team works from the same record.
Website with integrated IBE
Direct online sales live in weeks. Passengers search, book, and pay without contacting the airline.
Payment integrations
One processor across every channel. No more PayPal links or manual reconciliation.
Passenger management
Self-service changes, refunds, and trip management. No phone calls for routine requests.
Ancillary services
Bags, seats, and transfers offered at every booking step. New revenue from existing passengers.
12 months on Farel
Measurable outcomes across distribution, revenue, and operations.
Up from zero - direct online sales did not exist before Farel
Up from zero - a complete revenue stream that didn't exist a year ago
No manual coordination across teams.
From website visitor to paid passenger (travel and hospitality average ~2–3%; top 10% of travel sites run 3–4%)¹
Self-service changes, refunds, and trip management.
Digital distribution from day one.
Sources & footnotes
- Contentsquare / Statista, Travel and Hospitality Digital Experience Benchmarks (2023–2024): desktop 7.6%, mobile 2.6%. Promodo Travel Industry Benchmarks 2026: top 20% of travel sites convert above 2%, top 10% between 3–4%.
We never thought of ourselves as e-commerce. Now we are. Same routes, same aircraft, same family, but a different airline.
Could this work for your airline?
Farel fits airlines that need to digitize fast, open a direct channel, and unlock new revenue without growing the team.
Operates regional or charter routes
Inter-island, short-haul, or seasonal flying.
Runs on manual booking and payment processes
Email, phone, fragmented payment methods.
Wants to launch direct online sales (IBE)
A website where passengers can find, book, and pay without phoning in.
Seeks to introduce ancillary revenue
Bags, seats, transfers, and extras.
Needs to move to a digital operating model
Without a multi-year IT project or in-house engineering team.
Ready to take back control?
See the full platform live - tailored to your airline's operations.