Cleartrip resurfaces August 2026 plan to target 40–45% revenue from non-air travel as it pushes buses, rail and hotels

Resurfacing an August 2026 disclosure, Flipkart-owned Cleartrip detailed its diversification beyond air ticketing to curb exposure to volatile, low-margin flights. Non-air verticals—buses, rail and hotels—were targeted to contribute 40–45% of revenue by next year, up from about 10% in 2025, with break-even targeted for early 2027.

— Source publishedSat, 8 Aug, 2026, 05:17 IST·First seen Sun, 27 Sept, 2026, 19:39 IST·Source Financial Express · BrandWagon

What happened

Flipkart-owned Cleartrip is expanding buses, rail, hotels and other non-air travel services to reduce exposure to volatile air-ticketing margins. It targets

Key facts

  • Cleartrip targets non-air verticals contributing 40-45% of revenue by next year, versus about 10% in 2025
  • Cleartrip aims to break even by early 2027
  • Air fares rose 20-22% over the past year
  • ₹10,000 crore ATF Price Stabilization Fund
  • Air ticketing gross take rate: 7-8%; net take rate after discounts: 4-5%
  • Bus booking take rate: 10-12%; hotel booking take rate: 18-20%
  • Bus 2.0 covers over 650,000 routes across 6,000-plus cities
  • Cleartrip hotel inventory: 60,000-70,000 properties
  • India online travel market estimated at $31.3 billion in FY26
  • Offline players hold about 55% of ticketing market
  • Online penetration: hotels about 33%, bus bookings about 30%
  • Flipkart user base exceeds 300 million
  • MakeMyTrip controls about 60% of the OTA segment

Why this matters

Cleartrip’s diversification creates a stronger case for partnerships or acquisitions in hotel inventory, bus operators, rail-adjacent services and travel ancillaries that can accelerate non-air scale.

What to watch

  • Quarterly disclosure of non-air revenue share, gross booking value and category-specific growth.
  • Hotel room-night growth, take rates, exclusive inventory additions and cancellation/refund metrics.
  • Rail and bus repeat-booking rates, particularly among Flipkart-originated customers.
  • Customer-acquisition cost and promotional intensity relative to MakeMyTrip, ixigo, EaseMyTrip and redBus.
  • Evidence of Flipkart integration, including travel placement in shopping journeys, loyalty redemption and bundled offers.
  • Timing of EBITDA or contribution-margin break-even versus the early-2027 target.
  • Airfare volatility, airline capacity disruptions or regulatory changes that could accelerate demand for alternative travel modes.
  • Bundle flights with hotels, rail and bus tickets at checkout to raise cross-category attachment rates.
  • Use Flipkart Plus, Supercoins, payments and seasonal sale events to subsidize first non-air purchases and convert existing marketplace users into travel customers.
  • Prioritize hotel supply partnerships, exclusive deals and dynamic packaging because lodging offers materially higher commission potential than rail and buses.
  • Expand regional-language discovery, route-level pricing and last-mile support for bus and rail travelers in tier-2 and tier-3 markets.
  • Shift marketing measurement from gross bookings toward repeat rate, contribution margin and multi-category customer lifetime value.
  • Reduce airline concentration by using air bookings as an acquisition funnel rather than the core profit pool.