Bryan Dove steps down as Skyscanner CEO

Moshe Rafiah is to take on the CEO role at Skyscanner following a decision made by Bryan Dove to leave the business for family reasons.

Dove took over from co-founder and CEO Gareth Williams at Skyscanner in May 2018.

Rafiah is currently Travelfusion's founder and CEO, a role he will retain through Trip.com Group's ownership of both brands.

He was already vice chairman of Skyscanner. Dove will remain as a senior advisor to the company, a statement says.

Dove says: "It has been an honour to lead Skyscanner as CEO and CTO before that. Being part of Skyscanner has been one of my greatest professional privileges. While it’s hard to step away at this time, and despite the current challenges the world is facing, I’m confident that Skyscanner’s future is brighter than ever."

Rafiah's Travelfusion sold to Trip.com Group (then Ctrip) in January 2015, for a rumored $160 million. Travelfusion was one of the pioneering metasearch engines in the early-2000s, eventually shifting to a B2B model to aggregate air content for partners.

The China-based online travel giant snapped up Skyscanner some 22 months later for $1.75 billion.

Dove joined Skyscanner as chief technology officer in 2015.

His biggest mark as CEO came in November last year when the company introduced what it called a "marketplace" approach to the business.

Skyscanner became the merchant of record for air bookings for the first time as part of its shift away from the metasearch-only model.

Users are now offered three ways to purchase their air tickets when they are shown search results.

One option is to book with Skyscanner, with the company handling customer service, securing payments and taking ownership of all of the ticketing logistics for passengers.

A second method is to secure the fare through its existing direct-booking service, where Skyscanner handles the payment on the site but the airline or online travel agency partner continues to own the customer and be responsible for tickets.

The original metasearch model was not been banished completely, with a third option being the traditional list of partners that a user is passed over to online in order make the booking.

* Check this interview with Dove from The Phocuswright Conference 2019, discussing that strategy and more.