A SERIES of high profile alliances have boosted rentals at Connect Car Rental Network by 25% in the past year. Bookings topped 75,000 last year, up 26.3% on 1998 at the firm, which has deals with Ski Cocktail, British World Airlines, Monarch and European Air Express and calls at the firm's Luton-based centre have reached 1,500 a day.

A preferred supplier agreement with easyJet will continue despite the launch of a sister firm, easyRentacar, to supplement the limited network of the new firm. Connect Car Rental Network is a worldwide consortium of independent car rental companies across Europe, USA, Australia and South Africa offering access to about 500,000 vehicles at more than 5,000 global locations.

Monarch has named Connect Car Rental as its preferred supplier of car rental, covering Monarch's workforce of more than 3,000 employees, as well as friends and family. The firm's staff travel department takes more than 12,000 bookings a year.