Corporate Travel News For Europe/MEA

CAPA - Centre for Aviation, in a report entitled: 'Green thinking - business travellers are taking CO2 emissions into account when booking travel', stated (07-Jul-2023) research from Deutschen Reiseverband has highlighted that business travellers are increasingly considering environmental factors when selecting and booking corporate travel. The 'Chefsache Business Travel' study revealed an increasing number of business travellers and companies are attaching importance to being as ecologically sustainable as possible when travelling. The survey found 75% of German business travellers are choosing train travel instead of air or rental car travel for domestic connections. In cases where a flight cannot be avoided, 81% of business travellers stated they take CO2 emissions into account when booking, for example by choosing the most direct connections possible, with 61% offsetting emissions out of their own pocket. [more - CAPA Analysis]

Emirates Airline launched (05-Jul-2023) daily Dubai-Montreal service using 367 seat Boeing 777-300ER equipment. The service complements Emirates existing daily Dubai-Toronto service and increases the carrier's North American network to 14 destinations. According to OAG, no other carriers operate the route. [more - original PR]

Lufthansa, via its official Twitter account, announced (04-Jul-2023) the re-entry into service of A380 aircraft on the Munich-New York JFK route. As previously reported by CAPA, the carrier already redeployed the A380 on the Munich-Boston route in Jun-2023, and plans to reintroduce it onto Munich-Bangkok service from Oct-2023.

Collinson partnered (04-Jul-2023) with Blue Sky Group to allow Priority Pass members to access 13 premium lounges in Indonesian airports, including Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Balikpapan Sultan Aji Muhamad Sulaiman Airport and Palembang Mahmud Badaruddin II Airport. Eight lounges are exclusive to Priority Pass members. Collinson president Asia Pacific Todd Handcock stated: "This is an exciting time for the travel industry in Indonesia, as the country has set a goal of attracting nearly 7.4 million international arrivals in 2023, almost double the number of arrivals when compared to last year". [more - original PR]

Aircalin, via its official LinkedIn account, announced (05-Jul-2023) the launch of Noumea-Singapore-Paris CDG service on 01-Jul-2023, under a codeshare agreement with Air France.

Air Belgium announced (25-Jun-2023) it secured new contracts for passenger and cargo services for summer 2023, in addition to continuing to expand its range of scheduled passenger flights to destinations such as South Africa and Mauritius. The carrier stated new contracts include British Airways (London-Chicago), Royal Air Maroc (Casablanca to Paris CDG, Istanbul and Brussels), Air Madagascar (Paris CDG-Antananarivo), Surinam Airways (Amsterdam-Paramaribo) and Condor Flugdienst (including Frankfurt to Seattle, Chicago and Dominican Republic). The carrier has been operating charter flights for Air Greenland to Kangerlussuaq since Jun-2023, and is "strengthening its interline agreements in South Africa" through to Cemair and Airlink. In addition, Air Belgium will resume operating charter services for customer such as Le Ponant, which organises luxury cruises departing from Kangerlussuaq. [more - original PR]

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, via its official LinkedIn account, announced (29-Jun-2023) the first flight with is new 'World Business Class' (WBC) seats onboard has departed for South Africa. As previously reported by CAPA, the carrier is fitting the WBC class on its entire 777-300 and 777-200 fleets.

Germany's Association of German Travel Management (VDR) reported (28-Jun-2023) its 2023 business travel analysis shows an increasing trend towards the bundling of business trips. Highlights of the analysis of German business travel in 2022 include:

• 82% year-on-year increase in business trips, to 75.1 million;
• Expenditure doubled year-on-year to EUR26.9 billion;
• 8.4 million business travellers, increased three million year-on-year, but still below the peak of 13 million in 2019;
• Over 50% of respondents expect business travel will remain at a lower level than in record years;
• Companies increasingly opting for longer business stays to reduce travel costs, with the average duration being 2.4 days. Companies of over 1500 employees had the longest stays;
• 45% of trips took place without an overnight stay. Comparatively, in 2019 the proportion of day trips among small and medium sized enterprises reached a high of 70%;
• For longer travel times abroad, overnight stays have more than doubled year-on-year;
• Sustainability reporting still 'not an issue' for 29% of companies with over 500 employees. In medium sized companies, sustainability reporting in the mobility sector increased year-on-year from 31% to 42%;
• Reduction of travel is the preferred climate friendly measure for 90% of companies. Switching from flights to trains is the second most popular measure to promote sustainability, at 83%. [more - original PR - German]

JetBlue Airways launched (29-Jun-2023) daily New York JFK-Paris CDG service using A321LR equipment. JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes stated the service launch "is poised to disrupt the [trans-Atlantic] market once again with our award winning service and low fares". According to OAG, Air France, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Norse Atlantic Airways also operate the route. [more - original PR]

South African Airways (SAA) announced (29-Jun-2023) plans to launch twice weekly Cape Town-São Paulo service from 31-Oct-2023 and twice weekly Johannesburg-São Paulo service from 06-Nov-2023. The service marks the carrier's first intercontinental route to Sao Paulo since the airline returned to the skies in Sep-2021. São Paulo was identified as the biggest unserved market with the fastest growth for Cape Town and the Western Cape in 2019, prior to the onset of the pandemic. 43,000 two way passengers were recorded to have travelled between the two regions in 2019, with passenger growth of 26% on average p/a between 2015 and 2019. Cape Town Air Access initiative spokesperson Wrenelle Stander stated: "A direct, nonstop connection will significantly boost the recovery of Latin American traffic to Cape Town, which stood at only 23% in 2022 compared to 2019 passenger volumes. Beyond the convenience factor, Cape Town is perfectly positioned to serve as a connecting hub between Asia and South America - the direct route will be the shortest one available to date". SAA interim CEO John Lamola said: "We are overjoyed to announce São Paulo as our first international destination since the airline successfully emerged from an intensive Business Rescue process and Covid-19 lockdown. It also marks our return of our long haul service out of Cape Town". SAA appointed APG in Brazil as its GSA. [more - original PR] [more - original PR - II]