TRAVEL search engine Skyscanner has appointed Adam Drake as its first chief data officer.

The Edinburgh-based technology firm said Mr Drake will lead its newly created data science team, reporting to founder and chief executive Gareth Williams.

Skyscanner, used by millions of travellers around the world to compare flight prices, said the new post reflects the importance of data products to the business, both internally and in its work with travel partners.

Mr Drake will oversee the creation of further travel data products for travellers and the industry following last year's launch of Skyscanner for Business.

That sees the company's business intelligence team transform data on consumer flight habits into insights to help the industry make strategic decisions.

Mr Drake is a former chief data scientist and director of engineering at advertising network Zanox, and was also vice president of research and data chief scientist at mobile advertising company Madvertise.

He said: "With over 30 million unique monthly visitors, Skyscanner has an enormous amount of data to help serve travellers more effectively.

"I am very excited to build on top of what is already a wonderful product, and to help further improve the way data is used for our products, our travellers and our suppliers."

Mr Williams said: "Travel is about people moving in time and place - and data products make travel more efficient. Adam joins us to set the standard for the future of travel data products, which is an area we see as crucial to our growth."