Corporate Travel Analysis Reports For South Pacific

International airline passenger traffic was up strongly again in 2016, according to international airline representative body IATA's 2016 traffic report.

Global passenger demand rose 6.3% compared to 2015 with the number of seats available for sale growing roughly the same at 6.2%. Dec-2016 was a particularly good result with passenger demand rising 8.8% internationally. Growth in demand for that month outstripped supply 4:3 meaning that planes were fuller.

A US Federal Appeal Court has rejected the Trump administration's emergency application, or 'motion' to have the President's Executive Order reinstated.

The decision was unanimous with the panel of three Judges from the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declining to lift the injunction provided by the lower-court - which had suspended the ban and allowed previously barred travelers to enter the U.S.

27-Jan-2017 is probably a day most airline execs around the world will be happy to forget. President Trump's Executive Order took passengers and airlines by surprise. Appeal suits were filed, with lawyers on both sides bracing themselves for the battle ahead. The President's Order was temporarily quashed by District Court Judge Robart. Trump appealed but the US Federal Appeals Court rejected the Trump administration's application to have the Order immediately reinstated. After an Appeals Court hearing today the court is currently considering the matter, which many US law commentators suggest is likely to go all the way to the Supreme Court.

The airline community is watching closely. Mr Trump's Order and subsequent legal appeals have led to confusion and concern among passengers and airlines alike. It's already cost the industry millions with several airlines, including Qantas, agreeing to offer affected passengers full refunds. In the days following 27-Jan several flights left half empty or were cancelled as airlines were also faced with unexpected operational costs of last minute crew changes needed to accommodate staff holding dual citizenship of the seven affected countries mentioned in the Order.

2016 was a good year for Sydney Airport with the number of international arrivals rising by 8.9%.

Announcing the result, Managing Director and CEO Kerrie Mather stated:

Airline safety videos used to be boring. Very boring. Wooden flight attendants pointing out how to fasten a seatbelt or explaining where the emergency exits are may have ticked all the regulation boxes, but they left most travellers reading their newspapers.

That's all changing. No-one reads newspapers (what's a newspaper?) - and lots of people watch the safety videos.

Virgin Australia Holdings Limited (VAH) has announced (03-Feb-2017) an Underlying Profit Before Tax result of AUD45.9 million in Q2 - 2016-2017.

Ride-sharing service Uber has rapidly grown to become the largest provider of ground transport for business travellers in the United States, forcing more organisations to review their travel policies.

International aviation's reach is long. Events in Europe and the Middle East can have very important impacts on the far flung countries of the South Pacific. Yesterday Etihad and Lufthansa announced another step in their move together. There will be implications for Australia and New Zealand.

Late last year the two airlines had established a joint deal to allow Lufthansa to use some of ailing airberlin's aircraft, along with some limited codeshares. Then last night in Abu Dhabi, they announced they were to establish "two big contracts" as Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr described them: one for Lufthansa to provide catering services to Etihad, the other for the Gulf carrier to use Lufthansa group's maintenance operation, Lufthansa Technik.

Travel groups and airlines have immediately raised significant concerns at the immediate impact of President Trump's executive order.

A weekend survey by leading corporate travel group, ACTE (Association of Corporate Travel Executives), shows 39% of corporate executives in the US believe the Trump travel ban has the potential to reduce corporate travel and 20% stated that the current US travel ban was already "causing their travellers difficulty".

A complaint to Australia's competition watchdog could have an impact on corporate airline contracts, with the airlines' fare rules under attack.