Australia’s Influence Grows in Business Travel

As the business travel market in the Asia-Pacific region has grown, so too has the influence of the corporate travel companies with the most experience in serving the market.

This week I took a look at the annual financial results for Corporate Travel Management, which show strong returns around the world. As business travel has grown in recent years, companies with a strong presence in Asia-Pacific have reaped the rewards. Check out my story below.

We also have an in-depth feature from Skift Travel Tech Editor Sean O’Neill on how Air Canada’s technology team is working to grow its distribution network. Its new NDC Exchange platform, created by ATPCO and SITA, lets it connect to more partners outside the global distribution systems. Air Canada can more easily diversify how it sells tickets with this system and can be more flexible in its merchandising offers in the process.

If you have any feedback about the newsletter or news tips, feel free to reach out via email at [email protected] or tweet me @sheivach.

— Andrew Sheivachman, Business Travel Editor

Airlines, Hotels, and Innovation

Australia’s Corporate Travel Management Finds Its Global Expansion Pays Off: Corporate Travel Management continues to grow worldwide, fueled by acquisitions and its prowess across Asia. The global business travel boom has continued unabated.

Air Canada Begins Using a New Way to Distribute Fares to Partners: New technologies, practices, and vendors are emerging to help airlines distribute their airfares. The new landscape is complex. But Air Canada’s latest effort reveals at least one part of the emerging picture.

United Airlines President on Turning Skeptics Into Believers: Not everyone likes Scott Kirby, because he has a habit of speaking his mind, whether his opinions are popular or not. But there’s little doubt about his track record. The man knows how to increase an airline’s revenue. He’s done it at America West, US Airways, American, and now United.

JetBlue Is Hiking Checked-Bag Fees by $5: What a bizarre move by JetBlue Airways, which has differentiated itself over two decades by not nickel-and-diming its passengers. The airline was the last of the major U.S. carriers to charge a checked bag fee — it only added one in 2015 — and now it wants to raise it? Let’s hope this doesn’t stick.

Flight Centre Stock Tumbles After TV Report Alleges Anti-Consumer Practices: Negative press about working conditions and markups has dented Flight Centre’s stock price, despite record financial results. The claims have been denied, but the share price is still suffering. The mural incident doesn’t do anything to bolster confidence in corporate culture.

Hotels Missing Out on Federal Security Protections: Many hotels, including some in Las Vegas, already have systems to monitor guests for security threats, especially after the MGM Resorts massacre. They could probably do more to get certified for federal protections.

Epic India Fare War Part of a Shakeout Under Way for Decades: It is difficult to see a way out of the mess that is the India aviation market. There will be a lot more aviation pain before there is gain.

The Future of Travel

Virgin Group Announces New Loyalty Program Powered by Virgin Atlantic: It’ll be nice to see a unified loyalty program that will be usable on all Virgin properties from trains to retail to airplanes. Unfortunately, we still don’t know much about what the program will look like.

High-End Hotels Can Use Art for the Bottom Line’s Sake: In this Instagram era, a hotel art collection can be framed as an insta-marketing tool. We talked with several art curators about how luxury hotels can use art as a platform for branding and creating local buzz.

Google’s Travel Update Tells Consumers the Best Time to Book a Hotel: Google is stepping up the development of its travel products. It’s all part of the company’s master plan to make it even more indispensable for people planning a trip.

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Skift Business Travel Editor Andrew Sheivachman [[email protected]] curates the Skift Corporate Travel Innovation Report. Skift emails the newsletter every Thursday.

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