Ryanair’s week long “free flight” sale has pushed the site to take the number one spot in the Commercial Airlines category based on weekly visits, ahead of easyJet for only the second time in the last two years as Hitwise the online competitive intelligence service revealed.

Ryanair kicked off a price war last week offering free flights and yesterday, easyJet responded with its own sale slashing 30% off flight prices. Ryanair accounted for 15.81% share of UK Internet visits among Commercial Airline websites last week with easyJet taking 14.75%. Ryanair’s share of visits increased by 20% from Wednesday 16th May, the day the free-flight bonanza started, to the final day on Monday 21st May. easyJet’s response caused a 40% increase in daily visits to the website, putting easyJet back to the #1 spot yesterday.

Searches for “ryanair” also increased last week by 10% and Ryanair became the most searched for Travel brand for the week ending 19th May, a spot normally held by easyJet.

“Ryanair kicked off the price war in response to soft demand for flights and the campaign has worked to drive traffic to Ryanair, but so far hasn’t boosted the Commercial Airlines category”, commented Heather Hopkins, VP of Research for Hitwise UK. “The Commercial Airlines category saw its share of UK visits decline 4% last week, in spite of Ryanair’s strong gains. The promotion has fuelled demand for free flights, and for Ryanair’s promotion, but not for flights in general.”