Corporate Travel News

Tampa International Airport estimated (07-Sep-2017) Icelandair's newly launched twice weekly Reykjavik-Tampa service will generate an economic impact of nearly USD19 million p/a. The inaugural service from Tampa to Reykjavik sold out all 183 seats, with many expected to transit onto other European destinations. [more - original PR]

Qantas and GE Aviation announced (08-Sep-2017) they have developed new flight data application, known as 'FlightPulse', which provides pilots with data to help them fly more efficiently and help reduce carbon emissions. FlightPulse is the first fully commercialised product to be developed with mobile services from GE's 'Predix' platform. It uses recorded aircraft data and smart analytics to enable pilots to securely access their individual operational efficiency metrics and trends. Qantas head of fleet operations Captain Mike Galvin said FlightPulse provides pilots with valuable information that was previously only available in aggregate or used by analysts. [more - original PR]

African Airlines Association (AFRAA) reported (07-Sep-2017) the following capacity data for all passenger services (nonstop and with stops) from Africa to other regions in Aug-2017:

• Seats:
  • African airlines: 10.1 million, +4.9% year-on-year;
    • Intra Africa: 7.6 million, +1.0%;
    • Africa-Europe: 1.4 million, +10.1%;
    • Africa-North America: 98,765, +4.6%;
    • Africa-Middle East: 811,630, +3.7%;
    • Africa-Asia: 166,654, +9.5%;
  • Other carriers: 3.9 million, +12.2%. [more - original PR]

Qantas applied (07-Sep-2016) to the International Air Services Commission for an allocation of capacity of 1300 seats for Jetstar to increases its services between Australia and Indonesia. Jetstar plans to increase services from 01-Feb-2018, using Boeing 787 aircraft with 335 seats and A320 aircraft with 180 seats. Qantas seeks the capacity allocation on the following basis:

• Allocation is requested for five years;
• Capacity will be fully utilised from 30-Apr-2018;
• Capacity may be used by Qantas or another of its wholly-owned subsidiaries;
• Capacity may be used by Qantas to provide joint service with any wholly-owned subsidiary, and by any wholly-owned subsidiary to provide joint services with Qantas;
• Capacity may be used by Jetstar to provide joint service with Emirates. [more - original PR]

ANA Airports of Portugal reportedly delayed the design process for the expansion of Lisbon Humberto Delgado Airport, due to a failure by the concessionaire to present final cost estimates (Jornal de Negocios, 05-Sep-2017). Portugal's Government is scheduled to approve or reject the proposal in 2H2018. As previously reported by CAPA, TAP Portugal has express concern with the lack activity in the process, clarifying that its expansion depends on the level of capacity and congestion at the airport.

Italy's Minister of Infrastructure and Transportation Graziano Delrio, via his personal Facebook account, confirmed (06-Sep-2017) a meeting with Qatar Airways Group CEO Akbar Al Baker. Mr Delrio stated the meeting focused on "guarantees on the conclusion of the agreement with Meridiana and confirmation of the ambitious investment plan envisaged". Mr Delrio said Mr Al Baker has "great interest in developing links to and from Italy through partnership with Meridiana".

IATA released (06-Sep-2017) its statistics for international passenger demand for Jul-2017:

• Global: Traffic grew 6.8% year-on-year, while capacity climbed 5.5%, and load factor edged up 0.5 percentage points to 84.6%. Growth was a slow-down compared to the 7.6% growth recorded in Jun-2016;
• Europe: Traffic up 7.5%, down from 8.8% in Jun-2017. Capacity rose 5.9%, and load factor climbed 1.3 ppts to 88.7%, which was the highest among the regions. The economic backdrop in Europe has strengthened; however, on a seasonally-adjusted basis, the upward growth in travel demand has moderated sharply since Feb-2017;
• Asia Pacific: Traffic up 5.9%, a deceleration compared to Jun-2017 growth of 8.8%. As with Europe, carriers in the Asia Pacific region are seeing a slowing of demand growth. Capacity increased 6.7% and load factor slipped 0.6 ppts to 81.0%;
• Middle East: Traffic up 4.5%, an acceleration from the 3.6% in Jun-2017, but was still well off the region's five-year average pace of 11.2%. Capacity grew 3.6% and load factor rose 0.7 ppts to 81.5%. Middle East-North America market has been affected by a combination of factors in 2017, including the recently-lifted cabin ban on large portable electronic devices, as well as a wider impact from the proposed travel bans to the US. Traffic growth on the Middle East-US route was already slowing in early 2017, in line with a moderation in the pace of expansion of nonstop services by the largest Middle Eastern airlines;
• North America: Traffic up 3.5%, down from 4.4% growth in Jun-2017 but still ahead of the regional five-year average pace (2.9%). Capacity rose 3.8% and load factor slipped 0.3 ppts to 85.9%. Outbound travel is being supported by the relatively solid economic backdrop in North America, however, anecdotal evidence suggests that inbound demand is being negatively influenced by the additional security measures in place for travel to the US;
• Latin America: Traffic up 10.5%, the strongest growth among regions. Capacity increased 10% and load factor climbed 0.4 percentage points to 84.9%. International volumes between North and Central America continue to strongly trend upward while traffic on the North-South America market segment has also started to trend upwards, in part helped by the healthier, albeit still fragile, economic backdrop in Brazil;
• Africa: Traffic up 6.5%, down from 9.8% demand growth in Jun-2017. Capacity rose 1.7%, and load factor jumped 3.4 pppt to 74.1%. Conditions in the region's two largest economies continue to diverge, with South Africa in recession while business confidence levels are at a two-year peak in Nigeria. [more - original PR]

China Eastern Airlines confirmed (07-Sep-2017) plans to increase Shanghai-Brisbane frequency from four to seven times weekly, effective Nov-2017. China is currently the second largest international visitor market for Brisbane Airport, averaging 14% growth p/a in the last five years. Airport CEO and MD Julieanne Alroe stated: "These new daily flights are the first successful acquisition for Brisbane under the 'The Connecting with Asia' Fund whereby a core consortium of industry partners…provide matching funds to the state government contribution to attract new airlines". [more - original PR]

Virgin Australia announced (07-Sep-2017) plans to increase Melbourne-Hong Kong frequency from five times weekly to daily, effective 12-Nov-2017. Virgin Australia Airlines acting group executive Rob Sharp said: "Hong Kong is a very important part of our strategy for Asia" and noted the schedule is timed for passengers travelling from Australia to arrive in the early evening in Hong Kong and those travelling from Hong Kong to arrive in Melbourne in the morning. Timing also allows passengers to connect to other destinations in Australia and in China via Virgin partner Hong Kong Airlines. Virgin will operate an A330-200 aircraft on the route. As previously reported by CAPA, Virgin Australia launched the route on 05-Jul-2017. [more - original PR]

Ryanair launched (06-Sep-2017) three times weekly London Stansted-Pardubice service on 05-Sep-2017, the first regular scheduled service from Pardubice to Western Europe. Service operates with Boeing 737-800 equipment configured with 189 seats. [more - original PR - Czech]