Corporate Travel News

Antwerp International Airport announced (Oct-2017) plans to act an "attractive alternative" to Dutch airports in light of the Dutch government's proposal to reintroduce aviation taxes. The airport pointed to an 11% year-on-year rise in passengers departing the Netherlands in 2Q2017, with growing numbers of Dutch travellers also departing Belgian airports. Antwerp Airport said nearly 10% of its traffic hail from the Netherlands, with CEO Marcel Buelens remarking Flemish airports are becoming increasingly attractive to Dutch travellers: "Our rates are low, the accessibility is perfect and the 'airport experience' is here". [more - original PR - Dutch]

Qantas stated (13-Oct-2017) foreign persons, as of 29-Sep-2017, held 47.73% of the issued share capital of Qantas. The Qantas Sale Act 1992 (Cth) and the Qantas Constitution provide that foreign persons are permitted to hold relevant interests of no more than 49% of the issued share capital of Qantas. The foreign ownership ­interest is the highest since Oct-2014, when it stood at 47.8%, having reached 48.8% in the previous month (Herald Sun, 13-Oct-2017). It reached 50.4% in 2003, triggering a forced selldown of shares. [more - original PR]

Amsterdam Schiphol Airport released (13-Oct-2017) the number of available slots for the summer 2018 season. The airport will have an available capacity to handle 313,740 movements between 25-Mar-2018 and 27-Oct-2018 and up to 23,219 night departures and arrivals. [more - original PR - English/Dutch]

Australia's Department of Immigration and Border Protection confirmed plans to commence a trial of contactless border control systems at Canberra Airport in the coming weeks (Straits Times, 15-Oct-2017). The system uses biometric facial recognition to verify passengers' identities, enabling them to clear the border without needing to present travel documents. Contactless functionality will be added to all arrivals SmartGates from 2018. Singapore Airlines' Singapore-Canberra-Wellington service is currently the only international service at Canberra Airport.

Qantas Airways Limited, via its Investors website, noted (16-Oct-2017) its share price reached a nine year high of AUD6.31/share on 13-Oct-2017. This brought the year-to-date return to 89%. By way of comparison, the share price stood at AUD3.21/share on 17-Oct-2016, AUD3.78 on 12-Oct-2017, AUD1.31 on 13-Oct-2014 and AUD1.45 on 14-Oct-2013.

Star Alliance marked its 20th anniversary of operations in Sydney (karryon.com.au, 13-Oct-2017). Star Alliance country setting committee chair Tim Clyde-Smith said the group continues to improve its digital applications and new digital capabilities centrally that allow member airlines to enhance the digital services they provide customers.

SA Airlink commenced (14-Oct-2017) weekly Johannesburg-Windhoek-St Helena service with Embraer 190 equipment on 14-Oct-2017, marking the first commercial service at St Helena Airport. The airline also offers connections between Cape Town and St Helena via Windhoek. The carrier will also commence monthly St Helena-Ascension Island charter service on 18-Nov-2017. St Helena's Government stated: "The commencement of a commercial air service is St Helena's link to the rest of the world and will transform the Island's tourism industry. The growth of the tourism industry will have a positive knock-on effect for other sectors including, agriculture, fisheries and construction". Governor Lisa Phillips said: "We are determined to make sure that air services work to benefit all St Helenians and bring about a higher standard of living for those on the Island". [more - original PR]

Air Niugini stated (13-Oct-2017) 21 Air Niugini Aircraft Maintenance Engineers (AMEs) received their European Aviation Safety Agency AME licences on 10-Oct-2017 after successfully completing five years of training. This licence was granted by the UK Civil Aviation Authority. Air Niugini CEO Simon Foo said: "Using the UK AME licence, the first group of AMEs can now apply to CASA PNG for Fokker 100/70 Type rating endorsement while the second group can apply for endorsement and rating on Dash 8-100/200/300 aircraft". [more - original PR]

Virgin Australia appointed (13-Oct-2017) Aerocare as ground handler across its entire New Zealand network, following a competitive tender process. Aerocare will support around 5000 Virgin Australia annual services from Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington, Queenstown and Dunedin to six international destinations. Aerocare CEO Glenn Rutherford said the company would create up to 220 new jobs in New Zealand. Aerocare currently handles Virgin Australia services from 17 locations in Australia, and with the new services this will grow to 22 locations. Boeing 737 aircraft are used across the New Zealand service by Virgin Australia. [more - original PR]

ForwardKeys CEO Olivier Jager, speaking at the CAPA-ACTE Global Summit, stated (13-Oct-2017) the Chinese traveller is "very resilient", however the US travel ban's associated uncertainty impacted travel from China to the US. Mr Jager stated a lack of clarity around the ban could have made Chinese travellers suspect more difficult visa conditions, or feel "unwelcome". Mr Jager stated travellers from China "travel everywhere they're allowed to", while confirming large scale growth in certain destinations after visa regimes were relaxed. Moldova, Serbia and Tunisia saw Chinese traveller increase of 253%, 183% and 240%, respectively, following the relaxation of visa regimes.