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7 July 2010 U.K.-based CT Business Travel plans to open offices in Iraq partly "to help minimize the risk to U.K. companies who are involved in rebuilding and improving Iraq's infrastructure," CT announced. "There are many opportunities for U.K. companies to secure contracts in Iraq to help start re-building and improving the country's infrastructure. However, any companies venturing to Iraq to help with this rebuilding need to understand that there is still a certain amount of risk involved; this war torn country cannot yet be considered completely safe." 7 July 2010 Hogg Robinson Group partnered with Dar Alkhartoum Air Booking Agency in Sudan.
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6 July 2010 Chicago-area travel management company CorpTrav named former GlobalStar executive Martin Metzler as vice president of sales for its southern region. CorpTrav recently signed a network partnership with ATP International. 6 July 2010 Alitalia formally began participating in a transatlantic joint venture also including Air France-KLM Group and Delta Air Lines. Alitalia officials will "immediately" join the joint venture's working groups responsible for sales, frequent flyer programs and several other areas, according to a statement. "Alitalia also will be included in all joint venture initiatives, including joint sales contracts, which launched in January 2009." According to the carriers, the JV now encompasses 26 percent of transatlantic capacity with 250 daily flights, including various codeshare flights to and from Alitalia's Rome hub. Alitalia in 2009 signed a new deal with and agreed to sell a minority stake to Air France KLM. 1 July 2010 InterContinental Hotels Group said it would double its presence in China during the next five years to more than 250 hotels. New openings would include 55 Crowne Plaza hotels, 41 Holiday Inn properties, 26 Holiday Inn Express locations, 22 InterContinental hotels and 2 Hotel Indigo properties. 28 June 2010 Radius named Cindy Tien director of Asia-Pacific global sales and service, responsible for leading "the end-to-end process for multinational corporate sales." Tien previously worked for American Express Business Travel and Corporate Travel Services. 25 June 2010 ANA on 31 October will initiate service between Tokyo Haneda Airport and Bangkok, Honolulu, Los Angeles, Singapore and Taipei. The new flights will coincide with resumption of international services at Haneda following an expansion project. 24 June 2010 Continental Airlines and Tam Airlines on 1 July plan to begin sharing codes on certain flights between Brazil and the United States, and within the two countries. 23 June 2010 American Express Business Travel added public Cisco TelePresence Suites to its virtual meetings eXpert solution. The public suites are available at various locations including some Marriott, Starwood and Taj hotels. "The vmX platform is currently available through an offline reservation desk and is expected to be available online in 2011," Amex stated.
21 June 2010 China Eastern Airlines began offering UATP accounts to corporate clients. 15 June 2010 Delta Air Lines and Air France KLM "expect to add Alitalia to the joint venture in the coming weeks," according to Delta president Ed Bastian. SkyTeam partners Delta and Air France KLM began their transatlantic joint venture in 2008. In 2009, Italian flag carrier Alitalia--also a SkyTeam member--signed a new deal with and agreed to sell a minority stake to Air France KLM. 10 June 2010 Vietnam Airlines joined SkyTeam. 9 June 2010 Emirates Airline ordered from Airbus 32 additional A380 super-jumbo aircraft and now has 90 total firm orders. Valued at US$11.5 billion (AED 42.2 million), the new order would help Emirates "become a world leading carrier and to further establish Dubai as a central gateway to worldwide air travel," according to the company. 9 June 2010 German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced "a national ecological air traffic charge on all passengers" departing German airports, expected to generate €1 billion annually. According to Reuters the tax would amount to €8 to €16 per ticket. The International Air Transport Association opposed the tax, calling it "a cash-grab by a cash-strapped government" that provides "no environmental benefit." 9 June 2010 Travelport and Lan signed a "global full-content agreement" providing Travelport-connected agencies and corporations access to all of the carrier's fares and inventory. 9 June 2010 Wyndham Hotel Group agreed to acquire the Tryp hotel brand from Sol Melia Hotels & Resorts for approximately $43 million. There are 91 Tryp-branded hotels throughout Europe and South America, which still would be owned, operated and managed by Sol Melia, but Wyndham would rename them, "develop [the brand] globally and market the hotels cooperatively through central reservations systems and loyalty programs," according to Wyndham. 8 June 2010 IATA reversed its 2010 air industry forecast to a $2.5 billion global profit from the $2.8 billion loss it had projected in March. The International Air Transport Association cited a recovering global economy that has generated a "strong" rebound in overall traffic to "pre-recession levels" and a "sharp" increase in business travel. "Despite earlier fears that the financial crisis would result in a structural change to the premium market, it now appears to be recovering cyclically in many regions--alongside improvements in global trade," according to IATA. "World trade is still rising sharply and surveys show business confidence, outside Europe, has regained pre-recession levels." The group expects the airline sector in all regions to post overall net profits, except Europe, where it predicted a $2.8 billion loss. 8 June 2010 The oneworld alliance formally invited India's Kingfisher Airlines to join. Oneworld members expect Kingfisher to begin full participation within 18 to 24 months. Oneworld founder British Airways reached a bilateral codeshare deal with Kingfisher, with "implementation later this month," according to BA CEO Willie Walsh. 7 June 2010 The Millennium Foundation today officially launched the Massivegood program for corporate travel channels. Designed to collect "micro-contributions" from travelers when they book airline flights, hotel stays or car rentals as part of the effort to fight HIV/Aids, malaria and tuberculosis, Massivegood has secured commitments to facilitate corporate travel donations from travel management companies American Express Business Travel, BCD Travel and Carlson Wagonlit Travel, and online booking tool providers Amadeus (e-Travel), iFAO (Cytric) and Sabre (GetThere). "Companies now have an easy way to demonstrate commitment to global health with the launch of Massivegood's corporate program, which lets them integrate a simple donation solution into their corporate travel systems," according to a Millennium Foundation statement. 4 June 2010 HRG Germany partnered with local business travel booking and agent technology provider onseto for an "integrative online booking infrastructure [that] connects companies with their travel agencies" and suppliers. "Offering a data and transaction administration, onesto is an online solution for realizing a standardized online booking infrastructure," according to onesto's site. HRG separately owns a corporate self-booking solution and other technology, which it recently decided to market to other distribution providers. 26 May 2010 Flight Centre Limited recently acquired "the remaining 44 percent" of corporate travel agency FCm India and "doubled" its corporate travel operations in Singapore through a "small acquisition," according to a statement. The Australian travel company noted that "the global business travel market has started to recover, but has not yet returned to pre-global financial crisis levels," and added that corporate business in the United States "is again trading profitably." 26 May 2010 Hogg Robinson Group reported improved results for its fiscal year ended 31 March, "in line with expectations," despite declining travel activity among clients and therefore lower revenues. Profit before tax increased 15 percent year over year to £28.4 million (US$42.8 million). The travel management company cited cost reduction efforts and improved profitability in North America. Chief executive David Radcliffe said HRG expects client travel volumes to rebound this year "as businesses generally begin to benefit from the economic recovery. Towards the end of the [fiscal] year, we did see the first early signs of an upturn, first in Asia-Pacific and more recently in North America and Europe."
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