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Puerto Rico’s governor promises $9.5 million to tourism industry
DestinationsPuerto Rico’s governor unveiled a $9.8 billion operating budget Thursday night during a state of the commonwealth address in which he pledged to reduce crime, create jobs, boost school attendance and expand the U.S. territory’s tourism sector. Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla said he plans to reduce the island government’s $2.2 billion deficit to $775 million [...]
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Obama wants to give transportation a $50 billion budget bump in 2014
TransportPresident Barack Obama has proposed a $3.8 trillion budget for fiscal 2014 that aims to slash the deficit by a net $600 billion over 10 years, raise taxes and trim popular benefit programs, including Social Security and Medicare. The White House claims deficit reductions of $1.8 trillion, but Obama’s proposal would negate more than $1 [...]
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Not a scare tactic: Air traffic towers shutdown will affect airline safety
TransportThe planned shutdown of nearly 240 air traffic control towers across the country under federal budget cuts will strip away an extra layer of safety during takeoffs and landings, leaving pilots to manage the most critical stages of flight on their own. The towers slated to close are at smaller airports with lighter traffic, and [...]
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The coming trend in European train travel: High-speed goes low cost
DestinationsExploring France’s countryside from the comfort of the world’s fastest conventional train is about to get a little easier — and cheaper. The French national train network, SNCF, has unveiled its new low-cost high-speed train dubbed Ouigo last month, with service starting April 2. In just over three hours, travelers can go from the Paris region to Marseille [...]
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Budget hotel brands expand in NYC with dreams making it in the big leagues
RoomsRaj Trivedi believes major urban markets like New York are the “final destination” for successful brands. It’s why La Quinta spent almost $50 million in downtown Chicago five years ago and is now actively pursuing partners and projects in Manhattan and other major markets. “When a brand has become successful, has created distribution that is [...]
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Chinese love affairs push business travelers towards familiar hotel brands
DestinationsIn China, a sexual revolution is leaving business-travellers-on-a-budget out in the cold—or, at least, red in the face—according to a story by Radio Netherlands. Cheap hotels that are used to accommodating price-conscious business travellers are now cashing in on changing attitudes and catering to new customers—local lovers. Other than this being an interesting story about how [...]
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Megabus’ poor U.S. performance worries its owner Stagecoach
TransportStagecoach US operations have been weker than expected, but strength in the UK means profits growth is “good” Bus and rail operator Stagecoach warned that profits from its US business will be lower than expected but strength in its UK operations meant overall profitability remained “good”. “Recent extreme weather in North America and the ongoing [...]
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Business travelers thrilled over death of the PT Cruiser, world’s worst rental car
TransportEveryone knows the sinking feeling of arriving at a Hertz (HTZ) or an Avis (CAR) or an Enterprise, only to learn that all the premium cars are taken. Inevitably you’re stuck with a plum-colored PT Cruiser, those odd little Chryslers that for the past decade have populated rental car outlets across the country. “They’re just so awful,” says Stephanie [...]
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Low-cost carriers expected to capture the majority market share in Asia
TransportAsian low-cost airlines will win more than 50 percent of the region’s market, surpassing the portion taken by U.S. and European discount peers in their own markets amid a wave of first-time air travelers, an executive at planemaker Airbus predicted. Seat capacity offered by low-cost carriers in the Asia Pacific region currently comprise 19 percent [...]
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Malaysian Air buys more plans to plump up profits for its budget airline FireFly
TransportMalaysian Airline System Bhd., the nation’s largest long-haul carrier, agreed to buy 36 turboprop planes worth 3 billion ringgit ($982 million) from Avions De Transport Regional to tap rising travel demand in the region. Malaysian Air is purchasing the ATR 72-600 planes for its Firefly and MASwings units that operate short-haul flights, the Subang Jaya, [...]
