Corporate Travel News For The Americas

IATA Asia-Pacific regional VP Conrad Clifford reported (26-May-2017) Asia Pacific carriers are lagging behind North American carriers in terms of profitability. IATA forecasts for 2017 that Asia Pacific carriers will achieve an average 2.9% profit margin, against a profit margin of 8.5% in North America. Mr Clifford said the reason Asia Pacific carriers are not as profitable "is because they are adding big chunks of capacity to cater to growth". [more - original PR]

Pacific Air Express issued (26-May-2017) a request to Australia's International Air Services Commission seeking an allocation of unlimited freight capacity on the Brisbane-Guangzhou route. The proposed service will operate on Boeing 757-200F aircraft with 32 tonnes of freight capacity. [more - original PR]

Virgin Australia announced (25-May-2017) it will begin selling codeshare services on Air Canada between Los Angeles and three major Canadian cities, increasing connections between Australia and Canada. The announcement represents the implementation of the first phase of the strategic cooperation agreement between the carriers, following an MoU in Dec-2016. The codeshare includes allowing customers travelling on Virgin Australia's 18 times weekly Australia-Los Angeles services to book travel on Air Canada's services between Los Angeles and Toronto, Calgary and Montreal. Virgin Australia group executive John Thomas stated: "This codeshare agreement will make it easier for Australians to visit Canada and for Canadians to explore more of Australia. Canada is an important inbound tourism market for Australia, with visitors spending AUD800 million (USD595.4 million) in 2016 and visitor arrivals increasing in 2016 by seven per cent year on year". [more - original PR]

Samoa's Minister of Finance Sili Epa Tuioti believes Polynesian Airlines must have a very solid business case for the Government to revive its international operations (Samoa Observer, 26-May-2017). Mr Sili stated: "The government is trying to make sure that we leverage other people resources, more services by Fiji Airways, more services by Air New Zealand, more services from Australia and we are looking at that. We appreciate that there is Fiji Airways flight that comes to us from Honolulu, maybe there's an opportunity for an additional flight or we invite Hawaiian Airlines to fly directly instead of us going to Pago".

Qantas issued (24-May-2017) a request to Australia's International Air Services Commission (IASC) seeking to renew Determination [2008] IASC 103 on the US route. The renewal of this allocation includes unlimited passenger and cargo capacity for a period of 10 years and includes the following conditions:

• The capacity may be utilised by Qantas or another Australian carrier which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Qantas;
• The capacity may be used by Qantas to provide joint services with any wholly-owned subsidiary and by any wholly-owned subsidiary of the Qantas Group to provide joint services with Qantas;
• The capacity may be used by Qantas to provide services jointly with American Airlines. [more - original PR]

Australia's Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Darren Chester announced (24-May-2017) a bilateral agreement on air services between Australia and Peru. The agreement will facilitate opportunities for new services between the countries, supporting tourism, encouraging investment and improving cultural and people-to-people links. Mr Chester stated: "Both Australian and Peruvian airlines will be able to provide air services between countries either using their own aircraft or via codeshare arrangements with other airlines. Australia and Peru have enjoyed a strong tourism, trade and investment relationship which has continued to grow. In 2015, there were 3500 short-term arrivals to Australia from Peru, an increase of 12.7% year on year, while nearly 40,000 Australians visited Peru". [more - original PR]

Pacific Air Express (PAE) issued (24-May-2017) a request to Australia's International Air Services Commission (IASC) seeking to renew Determination [2013] IASC 126, which currently allocates one service per week of freight capacity on the Nauru route. In light of the recent changes to the air services arrangements between Australia and Nauru, which include increasing the freight capacity to 'unlimited frequencies', PAE is seeking for an allocation of unlimited freight capacity valid for 10 years from 19-May-2018. IASC invited submissions regarding the applications, with a closing date of 06-Jun-2017. [more - original PR]

Australian Transport Safety Bureau, via its official Twitter account, announced (23-May-2017) it is investigating an inflight engine shutdown involving a Qantas A380, VH-OQG, near Los Angeles on 20-May-2017. According to the ATSB the No 4 engine thrust reduced to about 45% before being shut down by the flight crew and the aircraft returned to Los Angeles Airport. As part of the investigation, the ATSB will interview the crew, obtain an engineering report and gather additional information, with a final report being released within several months.

Qantas responded (21-May-2017) to an incident which occurred on 19-May-2017 on an A380 service Los Angeles-Melbourne which was turned back to LA due to an issue with one of the aircraft's four engines. Qantas stated: "Pilots followed standard procedure, shut down the engine, and the flight landed normally in LA. Reports that the engine was 'on fire' aren't correct; passengers may have seen some sparks before it was safely shut down by the flight crew". A replacement service departed LA at around 14.30 on Saturday 20-May-2017, and arrived in Melbourne the following evening. [more - original PR]

American Express Global Business Travel (GBT) announced (12-May-2017) six of the top 10 cities outside Asia Pacific for business travel to Australia are US cities. North American cities dominate the top 10 rankings beyond Asia Pacific, with New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco the top three US cities. London, Paris, Amsterdam and Dubai comprise the remaining cities in the top 10 outside of Asia Pacific. According to the results, Australia's strong business ties to the US, particularly San Francisco and New York, continue to remain a key travel driver. In addition a weaker Australian dollar has increased tourism to Australia and resulted in greater connectivity, further enabling business travel. [more - original PR]