China’s Business Travel Sees New Growing Pains

The Chinese business travel market is the biggest in the world, and growth brings fresh challenges. This week we took a look at new research polling executives at Chinese corporations about business travel habits and policies.

Budgets are surging; the corporate focus is on restraining costs. As China’s secondary and tertiary cities receive improved infrastructure, business travel is expected to become more convenient in terms of transportation and lodging options, but more costly over the next few years.

This week we’ve also got the latest on Sabre’s turnaround in the world of travel distribution along with updates on Air France-KLM and the mystery airline being launched by JetBlue founder David Neeleman.

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, Senior Editor

Airlines, Hotels, and Innovation

Emerging Cities Pose Biz Travel Challenge for Chinese Executives: China is expected to remain a hotbed of both domestic and international business travel. Chinese corporations are attempting to keep costs down even as the need for business travel increases.

Sabre Looks for Efficiencies With Cloud Migration on Track: CEO Sean Menke has turned around Sabre’s performance since coming on board in 2017. No wonder investors have bid up the travel technology company’s share price since then.

How Air France-KLM’s CEO Wants to Be Like Other Airline Groups: New CEO Benjamin Smith is trying to do something his predecessors failed at: bring Air France and KLM closer together. The two airlines need to work in sync more if the group is going to compete better with rivals in Europe.

Kenya Airways’ New Direct Route Could Boost Tourism to East Africa: A new direct flight from JFK to Nairobi will open up East Africa to business and tourism in positive ways. Travelers no longer need to waste time connecting in London or the Middle East, and both Kenya and surrounding countries will benefit from increased activity.

Australia and New Zealand Have a New Bigger-Is-Better Pitch for Conventions: Australasia’s major convention centers are undergoing significant redevelopments. They’re getting bigger and better to cope with the growth of mega-meetings, delegates demanding experiences, and the need to save the planet.

The Future of Travel

JetBlue Founder Reveals Details on His New Tech-Focused International Airline: David Neeleman argues that the competition won’t be able to touch his new airline, which likely won’t be named Moxy, because it will be so different. Plenty of other airlines will have something to say about that.

U.S. Travelers Among Those Permitted to Skip Lines at Heathrow in Preparation for Brexit: It’s pretty clear whom the UK wants to business with after it leaves the European Union. Travel headaches were eased for Americans, Japanese, Canadians, Aussies, and New Zealanders on Monday. Wait for those calls of outrage from the rest of the world stuck in horrendously long lines at Heathrow.

Istanbul’s New $25 Billion Airport Opens Amid Fanfare: Istanbul is located in the right part of the world for a massive global connecting hub, so this could be money well spent. But it’ll be some time before we know for sure.

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

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