Corporate Travel News For The Americas

Bundesverband der Deutschen Luftverkehrswirtschaft (BDL - Federal Association of German Air Transport), via its official website, reposted (10-Dec-2017) a report confirming commentary from BDL president and Fraport chairman and CEO Dr Stefan Schulte (PLATOW, 10-Dec-2017). Dr Schulte stated Fraport is applying for participation in the operation of New York Newark Liberty International Airport's new terminal A.

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines welcomed (08-Dec-2017) a "sharp" double digit passenger increase in Nov-2017. President and CEO Pieter Elbers stated growth was "especially strong on routes to European destinations and the American continent". He added: "In Africa and the Middle East, KLM succeeded in boosting load factor by 3%, on the back of minimal capacity growth... This confirms that KLM's network strategy is still as fruitful as ever". [more - original PR]

Primera Air CEO Hrafn Thorgeirsson reported the carrier is exploring plans to launch services to Washington Dulles International Airport, Baltimore/Washington International Airport and/or Montreal in 2019, following strong sales on its planned services from the UK and Paris to New York, Boston and Toronto in May/Jun-2018 (Forbes, 08-Dec-2017). Mr Thorgeirsson said once Primera accrues experience operating low cost long haul services using next generation long range narrowbody aircraft on trans Atlantic routes, the carrier plans on "moving east like we are moving west", if traffic rights are favourable. He added Primera will consider operating services from Europe to Kenya, Gambia, Cape Verde, India and the Middle East if trans Atlantic services prove successful.

ACI World‏, via its official Facebook account, stated (06-Dec-2017) Vietnam, India, Iran, Colombia and Saudi Arabia are projected to be the fastest growing markets in the period from 2017 to 2040.

French Blue, via its official blog, confirmed (07-Dec-2017) plans to launch Paris Orly-San Francisco-Papeete service on 11-May-2018. The route requires final regulatory approvals. The carrier will operate 411 seat A350 equipment, with 376 economy and 35 premium seats. [more - original PR]

Brussels Airlines entered (07-Dec-2017) a partnership with Belgian celebrity chef Stéphanie Thunus to introduce new business class menus on long haul routes to Africa, India and the US from Jan-2018 to Dec-2018. [more - original PR - English/Dutch]

Vietnam plans to add Australia, the UAE, Canada, India, the Netherlands and New Zealand to the list of nations which will be granted e-visas under the newly issued Decree 124/NQ-CP (VNA, 02-Nov-2017). Vietnam launched a two year pilot e-visa programme on 01-Feb-2017 covering citizens of 40 countries.

IATA director general and CEO Alexandre de Juniac noted (05-Dec-2017) airport infrastructure "is not being built fast enough to cope with growth" in passenger traffic. Mr de Juniac urged governments worldwide to "Work with the industry to plan and build the infrastructure that will be needed to power your economies", adding: "There is no time to lose". In the meantime, Mr de Juniac advised airports and governments to "allocate scarce capacity efficiently using global standards" and said the scarcity of airport infrastructure supply means slot coordination "is critical". He observed: "About two thirds of airports needing slot coordination are in Europe" but added bottlenecks are a global problem impacting airports in Sydney, Bangkok, Manila, Jakarta, Mumbai, Mexico City, New York and Sao Paolo, "to name just a few". [more - original PR]

French Blue updated (30-Nov-2017) its regulatory situation regarding the launch of twice weekly Paris Orly-San Francisco-Papeete service with A350-900 equipment, planned for 11-May-2018 (Outremer Aviation, 05-Dec-2017). French Blue stated a "legal difficulty has arisen over a possible conflict with a US operator with a close name". French Blue therefore lodged an application with the US DoT under the name 'French', instead of French Blue. As previously reported by CAPA, the airline is still waiting US authorisation for landing rights in San Francisco. [more - original PR]

SAS announced (05-Dec-2017) plans to expand the 'SAS Go Light' concept, which offers a lower price to passengers travelling without checked baggage, to passengers travelling on services from Scandinavia to the US, commencing 14-Dec-2017. 'SAS Go Light' was launched for passengers travelling to destinations in Europe in 2015. [more - original PR - English/Swedish]