The company was formed by three information technology professionals.[3] The Edinburgh office was opened in 2004.[4]
In 2009, the year after SEP invested in the business, Skyscanner reported its first profit.[5]
In 2011, Skyscanner acquired Zoombu.[6] Skyscanner opened an office in Singapore in September 2011, which is headquarters for its Asia-Pacific operations.[7] In 2012, a Beijing office was added, as Skyscanner began a partnership with Baidu, China's largest search engine.[8]
By 2013, the company employed over 180 people.[9] In February 2013, Skyscanner announced plans to open a United States base in Miami.[9] In October 2013, Sequoia Capital purchased an interest in Skyscanner that valued the company at $800 million.[10] In June 2014, Skyscanner acquired Youbibi, a travel search engine company based in Shenzhen, China.[11]
By February 2015, the company employed 600 people, double the employment of 18 months earlier.[12]
In January 2016, the company raised $192 million based on a $1.6 billion valuation for the company.[13]
In November 2016, a Chinese company Trip.com Group (formerly Ctrip) bought Skyscanner for $1.75 billion.[14] Following the sale to Ctrip, Skyscanner's largest shareholder, SEP, completed its exit from the business.[15]
In 2017, Ctrip bought the Trip.com domain and launched Trip.com. The original platform became a subsidiary of Skyscanner.[16]
In 2020, after COVID-19, the company announced that it would lay off 300 employees (20% of its staff). It was likely to close two offices in Budapest, Hungary and Sofia, Bulgaria.[17]
