Corporate Travel News

Air Niugini announced (14-Dec-2017) a new agreement with Sabre Corporation to distribute the Sabre GDS in Papua New Guinea. The agreement marks Sabre's entry into the Papua New Guinea travel market, allowing travel agents to adopt Sabre's 'Red Workspace' point-of-sale solution, which delivers a content-rich marketplace integrated with data-driven support tools. Papua New Guinea travel businesses, including travel management companies and corporate, leisure and online travel agencies, will be able to access Sabre's solution. Other solutions Sabre will bring to the market include the 'TripCase' itinerary management tool and the 'Clipboard' tool allowing travel agents to quickly translate and configure information from the Sabre Red Workspace. Air Niugini tickets are now available via Sabre. [more - original PR]

Aeroflot stated (14-Dec-2017) it continues to upgrade its onboard catering and uses crowd-sourcing surveys to track the latest preferences of passengers. Among the carrier's latest innovations is the introduction of a vegetarian main course on the regular à la carte menu in business class. Passengers can select from 17 special menus, with a number of vegetarian options including vegan, Asian vegetarian and fruitarian. [more - original PR]

Air New Zealand announced (15-Dec-2017) it will introduce Google Assistant to offer information about the carrier on a range of topics, including checkin and baggage limits. Google Assistant is available using a range of devices. Air New Zealand chief digital officer Avi Golan said launching with Google Assistant opens up more options for customers to interact with the airline, noting that "Voice is a growing channel and therefore it's important that we offer this as an option for customers to interact with us". Air New Zealand will look to further develop its Google Assistant capability, including introducing the ability to sign into a booking or Airpoints account to enable more personalised responses. [more - original PR]

Tourism Australia released (Dec-2017) its International Tourism Snapshot for the year to 30-Sep-2017. Details include:

• International arrivals: 8.7 million, +7% year-on-year;
• International visitor spend: AUD41.2 billion (USD31.6 billion), +6%;
• Inbound seats: 25.6 million, +6%. [more - original PR]

Victoria Tourism Industry Council (VTIC) appointed (11-Dec-2017) Felicia Mariani as CEO, effective mid Jan-2018. Ms Mariani most recently lead The Good Food Foundation and Jamie's Ministry of Food, and previously held executive and senior management roles in Tourism Victoria, was MD of the Australian Tourism Export Council and former CEO of Tourism Tasmania. [more - original PR]

Wirecard stated (13-Dec-2017) it is facilitating credit card acceptance for Africa's largest online travel agent Travelstart, enabling Travelstart customers to use their credit cards to pay online for flights, hotels, car rentals and complete journeys. The travel portal is used by an average of two million users from 16 countries per month. Wirecard noted current tourism trends indicate Africa is increasingly becoming an attractive tourism destination. Growing at 6.5% p/a, the total number of international tourist arrivals to Africa reached 18.6 million in 1H2017. [more - original PR]

Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC) and Expedia, via their joint '2018 Air Travel Outlook Report' released (12-Dec-2017), the following insights into international economy and premium passenger flows to top airport destinations:

• Asia: ARC's data revealed intra-Asia traveller volumes are driving international arrivals to airports across Asia and much of this is concentrated within North Asia;
  
  • Bangkok, Hong Kong, Seoul and Taiwan are the key economy travel hubs;
  • Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, Shanghai and Tokyo are the key premium travel hubs;
• North America: US inbound international traffic flows vary widely by destination, driven by a variety of flight origins within Europe, Asia and Latin America as top feeder markets to the busiest US airports;
  
  • New York is the top inbound economy travel hub for the US;
  • New York and Los Angeles are the key premium travel hubs in North America;
• Europe: London is the key feeder of passenger volumes to the busiest destinations;
• Asia-origin flights (Flights with segments originating in North Asia):
  
  • Shanghai, Taipei and Seoul are fueling inbound travel to key European airports/cities;
  • Dubai is the hub of Middle East travel into London and Paris/Europe for economy cabin travelers;
• Latin America: Cancun dominates the region. Cancun's popularity is predominantly driven by international economy travel from the US. [more - original PR]

Jetstar announced (13-Dec-2017) plans to launch three times weekly Wellington-Queenstown service with A320 equipment on 27-Mar-2018. The carrier last operated the route in 2013 and is relaunching ahead of the 2018 ski season. Jetstar head of New Zealand Daniel Banens said the carrier worked closely with Wellington and Queenstown airports to identify customer demand, noting: "Queenstown is hugely popular with our customers and has experienced significant passenger growth over the past few years." The service will be Jetstar's fifth domestic route from Wellington and second domestic route from Queenstown. The airline currently operates from Wellington to Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin and Nelson and between Queenstown and Auckland. [more - original PR]

Germany's Bundesregierung (Federal Government) announced (13-Dec-2017) the grounding of NIKI and commencement of insolvency proceedings at the local court of Berlin-Charlottenburg. Bundesregierung stated: "We very much regret the decision of the European Commission regarding NIKI. The Federal Government would have wished for a friendly solution between the European Commission and Lufthansa". Bundesregierung added its EUR150 million bridging loan provided to Air Berlin PLC "may only be partially repaid" as a result. NIKI, via its official website, announced all air traffic under its 'HG' designator code will be discontinued as of 14-Dec-2017. [more - original PR - German]

Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA purchased (13-Dec-2017) 28 weekly slots at London Gatwick Airport from Small Planet Airlines for the summer 2018 season. Norwegian CCO Thomas Ramdahl said: "Gaining extra capacity at London Gatwick is another huge boost as we get ready for our biggest ever year in the UK" and confirmed the carrier plans to launch services from Gatwick to Argentina, Chicago and Austin in early 2018. [more - original PR]