Corporate Travel News

EUROCONTROL reported (23-Nov-2023) the following highlights for European aviation, for the period between 13-Nov-2023 and 19-Nov-2023:

• The network recorded 24,506 average daily flights, -2% week-on-week and +7% year-on-year, with airlines scaling back on flights more than expected, as they changed to winter schedules;
• Intra Europe: 18,766 daily flights, -2% week-on-week and 92% of 2019 levels;
• Intercontinental: 5052 daily flights, -2% week-on-week and 90% of 2019 levels;
• On the intercontinental network, Europe-Middle East was the largest regional flow, with 1160 daily flights, 13% below 2019 levels;
• Europe-North Africa recorded the highest increase compared to 2019 (+14%), while Europe-Other Europe (Including Russia) recorded the largest decrease (-70%);
• UK-US was the top long haul country pair, with 285 average daily flights, +2% week-on-week and +2% compared with 2019;
• The mainline (+11%), low cost (+10%) and regional (+3%) sectors are recording year-on-year growth, while business (-1%) all cargo (-6%) and non scheduled (-10%) are down. Compared to 2019, business (+14%) and all cargo (+7%) are recording growth. [more - original PR]

Air France-KLM, via its official website, announced (22-Nov-2023) Air France and SNCF expanded their 'Train + Air' product between the French regions and Paris CDG and Paris Orly via Massy TGV station, since mid Oct-2023, with the following eight new routes:

• Arras to Paris CDG and Paris Orly, via Massy TGV;
• Laval to Paris CDG and Paris Orly, via Massy TGV;
• Lille Flandres to Paris CDG and Paris Orly, via Massy TGV;
• Perpignan-Paris CDG;
• Aix en Provence-Paris-ORY, via Massy TGV.

The network expansion increases the routes offer by Air France as part of the service to 41, with departures from 22 stations. [more - original PR - French]

AMEX GBT Egencia global sales manager Tim Shepherd, speaking at the CTC Sydney Corporate Travel Summit & Awards, stated (23-Nov-2023) "Applications using LLMs [large language models] have potential to enhance, not replace, existing solutions at Egencia". Mr Shepherd said that for Egencia, "one of the main challenges of working with AI is the prevalence of model hallucination", explaining: "that's errors within the answers that it provides that undermines the trust of users and constantly retraining models to avoid that is really costly". He continued: "so this is why we're looking at open sourced LLMs", which are "not necessarily trained on a set of data, but work with vector databases and that really avoids the need for retraining models".

AMEX GBT Egencia global sales manager Tim Shepherd, speaking at the CTC Sydney Corporate Travel Summit & Awards, stated (23-Nov-2023) the airline industry "has long been an early adopter of new technologies", noting: "airlines built extremely sophisticated algorithms to balance different factors and optimise for both revenue and for load capacity", adding: "and of course hotels have also caught up to this". Mr Shepherd continued: "Using data in business travel certainly isn't new", but said new artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) solutions are driving "a surge of innovation in business travel technology". He further stated that thanks to AI and ML, "levels of personalisation and optimisation that once seemed out of reach will now become the norm in business travel", as these technologies "can help companies develop tools and features that offer a richly personalised business travel experience".

Australian economist Michael Pascoe, speaking at the CTC Sydney Corporate Travel Summit & Awards, stated (23-Nov-2023) a big feature of the Australian economy now and in the years to come is the "multi speed" economy.

Air France and KLM announced (21-Nov-2023) Centrum Reisebyrå renewed its participation in the corporate sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) programme for an additional year. Air France and KLM sales director Halvor Gløersen highlighted: "Centrum Reisebyrå is the largest franchise in the Amex GBT group", and "this contribution will increase both demand and production of SAF". As previously reported by CAPA, the programme enables business customers to determine their annual SAF contribution, after estimating the CO2 emissions associated with their trips. [more - original PR - Norwegian]

ZIPAIR announced (20-Nov-2023) plans to introduce mobile check-in services on the following international services from Tokyo Narita:

• Singapore: Services departing on or after 21-Nov-2023;
• Seoul Incheon: Services departing on or after 22-Nov-2023;
• Manila: Services departing on or after 22-Nov-2023.

Customers will be able to check-in to flights using their personal devices by uploading their passport data up to 24 hours prior to departure. [more - original PR]

Collinson announced (21-Nov-2023) an exclusive partnership with Delaware North which will enable Collinson's Priority Pass Members to access 13 F&B outlets across the following airports in Australia and New Zealand:

• Adelaide Airport:
  • Coopers Alehouse;
  • Pantry;
  • Precinct;
• Auckland International Airport:
  • Best Ugly Bagels (Domestic);
  • Best Ugly Bagels (International);
  • Orleans Chicken & Waffles;
  • Blue Marble Lane;
  • Oma Artisan Bakery & Café;
• Melbourne Tullamarine Airport:
  • The Local Taphouse (opening in late Nov-2023);
  • Pickett's Deli & Rotisserie;
  • Stomping Ground Brewery and Beer Hall;
• Perth Airport:
  • Coffee Quarter;
  • Hatchery Collective Bar & Grill.

The partnership enables Priority Pass Members to redeem lounge credits for dining credits of set menus at the locations. [more - original PR]

South African Airways (SAA) announced (21-Nov-2023) plans to suspend Lilongwe and Blantyre services, effective 30-Nov-2023, due to "recent economic challenges in Malawi". SAA confirmed it has been "monitoring the situation of substantial devaluation of the Malawian Kwacha, acute foreign currency shortages, and the escalation of blocked funds". SAA CEO John Lamola stated: "This move should not be interpreted as a step back from the airline's commitment to serving the people of Malawi and promoting trade links between South Africa and Malawi", but added: "We cannot commit to routes that are not financially sustainable". Mr Lamola said: "We remain open to resuming the route to Malawi as soon as the situation warrants the substance of financially efficient operations from this route". [more - original PR]

VietJet Air launched (22-Nov-2023) five times weekly Ho Chi Minh City-Perth-Adelaide service on 21-Nov-2023. VietJet is the first Vietnamese carrier to fly to South Australia and Western Australia. The LCC also operates services to Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. [more - original PR]