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NEWLY launched travel website Opodo plans to break into the package market, Travel Weekly can reveal.

Chief executive officer Giovanni Bisignani claims it has signed agreements with several holiday suppliers and is ready to

start selling their products.

“The deals are done and we will expand into selling the packages on-line very soon,” he said.

Opodo, a joint venture between Aer Lingus, Air France, Alitalia, Austrian Airlines, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia, KLM and Lufthansa, was launched in the UK last week. So far it has restricted its product range to car hire, hotels, flights, accommodation and travel insurance.

But selling packages will increase concern on the high street that it may become the dominant market force, a feat achieved in the US by a similar web operation called Orbitz.

Bisignani said: “I want to stress that we will always offer agents aggressive but fair competition in the interests of the consumer.

“The on-line market in the UK is currently worth £1 billion and will be worth £6.25 billion by 2006. There is enormous scope for growth.

“High-street agencies will have to put forward consolidation strategies and upgrade their technological systems to compete, but they will always find Opodo is a fair competitor,” he added.

Allaying fears the share-holding airlines would abuse their ownership of Opodo to undercut other retailers, Bisignani said they act as “financial investors” and do not get involved with negotiated fare deals or the day-to-day management of the company.

The Opodo website has been kept simple to increase its appeal to first-time web users and has been designed to appeal to both leisure and business travellers.

It is backed up by a call centre that employs former travel agents.