Corporate Travel News For Europe/MEA

Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde GebreMariam said the airline expects to sign an agreement with Zambia's Government and private equity investors by Nov-2017 on the establishment of a JV airline in Zambia (Bloomberg, 15-Sep-2017). The JV would provide Ethiopian with a southern Africa hub in Lusaka. Ethiopian is also in discussions on the creation of a new national carrier in Chad and is seeking to acquire a stake in strategic partner Congo Airways.

CAPA - Centre for Aviation, in a report entitled: 'Aegean Airlines: operating leases will dominate new refleeting orders for 45-60 Boeing or Airbus', stated (17-Sep-2017) while Aegean currently operates Airbus narrowbodies, it is equally evaluating the new generation A320neo family and 737 MAX. A decision is expected before the end of 2017. Although the airline is currently an Airbus operator, it has experience with Boeing aircraft, with its narrowbody fleet being all Boeing up until 2006. It will continue to use operating leases as its preferred means of funding aircraft acquisitions and believes that lessors have ample capacity to place. The last of its 737s exited the fleet by the end of 2010, highlighting the flexibility coming from its predominant use of operating leases. [more - CAPA Analysis]

TravelCar, via its official LinkedIn account, reposted (17-Sep-2017) a report confirming Transavia France invested in both the French car sharing start-up and Wiidii, a personal assistance interface (L'Aerien/Air Journal, 15/16-Sep-2017). Transavia France president and CEO Nathalie Stubler said the airline sector is "bubbling with innovative and dynamic companies" which are offer "differentiating assets".

Ryanair announced (15-Sep-2017) plans to cancel 40 to 50 services per day over six weeks until the end of Oct-2017 to "improve its system-wide punctuality which has fallen below 80%". Ryanair head of communications Robin Kiely added: "By cancelling less than 2% of our flying programme over the next six weeks... we can improve the operational resilience of our schedules and restore punctuality to our annualised target of 90%". Mr Kiely also attributed recent reductions in on time performance to pilots' annual leave, and ATC capacity delays and strikes. [more - original PR]

Adria Airways Switzerland CCO Christian Schneider confirmed "we are considering the option of applying" to become a Star Alliance member (Routes Online, 14-Sep-2017). Mr Schneider said becoming a member would "provide our passengers the benefits such membership entails for them".

Mauritius and Portugal signed (14-Sep-2017) a bilateral air services agreement (BASA) on 14-Sep-2017. The main provisions are multiple designation of airlines by each party for up to seven weekly frequencies, third and fourth freedom traffic rights for the designated airlines and codesharing possibilities with airlines of either party and with airlines of third countries. The agreement is expected to enable Air Mauritius to expand its visibility in the Portuguese market. The airline intends to codeshare on Air France's Paris-Lisbon and Paris-Porto services. The agreement is expected to lead to growth in tourism between Mauritius and Portugal. [more - original PR]

Turkish Airlines chairman İlker Aycı announced plans to reinvent AnadoluJet (Hurriyet Daily News, 15-Sep-2017). Mr Aycı said: "We will recreate it completely with its colour, image and flight destinations. I like Norwegian Airlines, which flies short and long distances with low costs. We will create a similar but more advanced model". CAPA - Centre for Aviation, in a report entitled: 'Turkish Airlines part 3: seeks to boost partnerships in Asia and Australia' stated Turkish Airlines is considering expanding LCC brand AnadoluJet into long haul low cost operations. Turkish CEO Bilal Ekşi said there is "some strategic discussion" on using Anadolujet to expand into the long haul market.

Turkish Airlines chairman İlker Aycı stated the carrier plans to expand its presence in Asia Pacific and Latin America (Hurriyet Daily News, 15-Sep-2017). Mr Aycı identified Mexico City and Sydney as planned destinations. Mr Aycı said: "It is not possible to fly directly from Mexico City. Instead, we plan to have a direct flight by refuelling in Cancun". Mr Aycı added the launch of service to Sydney is expected in 2018. CAPA - Centre for Aviation, in a report entitled: 'Turkish Airlines part 3: seeks to boost partnerships in Asia and Australia', stated the carrier previously considered serving Melbourne and Sydney via Bali, Jakarta or Singapore, however CEO Bilal Ekşi said one stop flights to Australia are not currently in the network plan.

Thomas Cook Group entered (14-Sep-2017) a strategic alliance with Expedia. Under the multi-year agreement, Expedia is preferred hotel provider for Thomas Cook's city and domestic holiday business and provides its booking platform to support all city break and hotel only sales across all of Thomas Cook's European distribution channels. Thomas Cook previously concluded a hotel sourcing deal with Webjet in Aug-2016, covering the majority of Thomas Cook's sun and beach hotel offering. [more - original PR] [more - original PR - II]

Jetstar announced (13-Sep-2017) a new partnership with payment platform Afterpay to allow travellers to pay off airfares in equal fortnightly interest free repayments. The new service is available on select Australian domestic flights booked at least two months in advance of the first flight on the booking. Currently the service is available for transactions between AUD200-AUD1000 (USD159.5-USD797.5), with a service fee of AUD10 (USD7.9). [more - original PR]