Business Travel News - January 28, 2008 - (Page 4)

NEWS BA To Launch Europe-U.S. Carrier BY JAY BOEHMER AND AMON COHEN expansion of transatlantic competition at its home airport, London British Airways plans to launch Heathrow, following the signing of an airline serving the United States the U.S.-European Union Open from continental Europe in June. In Skies deal last April. The agreement a nod to the historic agreement that takes effect on March 30 and eight makes an operation outside its home airlines already have announced 18 country possible, the new carrier new services from the world’s will be called OpenSkies. It will be busiest international airports. run by industry stalwart and U.S. An analyst requesting anonymity citizen Dale Moss, who left BA in said the new airline is a Trojan horse 2006 after 30 years with the airline. to establish a lower cost structure for BA. “Fares are much cheaper from continental Europe to the U.S. than from the U.K.,” he said. “The only way it can work for BA is to establish a lower cost structure.” Moss said OpenSkies will target small, midmarket and some leisure segments, and plans to participate in global distribution systems. OpenSkies will operate under a codeshare with BA and benefit from the entrenched carrier’s frequent flyer program, lounge access and sales force, Moss said. However, OpenSkies may not be beholden to BA labor agreements, pending laDALE MOSS bor negotiations unresolved at press OpenSkies managing director time. “We’ll have our own contracts,” Moss said, noting “issues BA said the first route to be flown that we have to dance around.” by OpenSkies would be from New London-based JP Morgan airline York’s John F. Kennedy Internation- analyst Chris Avery said getting al Airport or New Jersey’s Newark around BA’s existing agreements is Liberty International Airport to ei- not a foregone conclusion, as labor ther Paris or Brussels. A second air- unions “are regarding OpenSkies as craft by year-end would serve something they ought to have their whichever of those two European hand in. The deal is not done.” Virgin Atlantic late last year destinations is not chosen for the inaugural route. OpenSkies plans to shelved plans to launch a transatfly a fleet of elderly Boeing 757s lantic business-class carrier, and JP transferred from the main BA fleet. Morgan’s Avery said BA’s move away The carrier intends to its initial all-busiFor the latest breaking news, from plan “makes you operate six 757s by ness see btnonline.com/bn the end of 2009. wonder whether they Although British Airways CEO feel the demand is there.” Willie Walsh last year toyed with the However, all-business-class Eos concept of all-business-class serv- Airlines founder Dave Spurlock ice, OpenSkies will fly three class- found OpenSkies’ premium seating es: business, with 24 lie-flat seats, plan encouraging. “The amount of premium economy, with 28 seats floor space on that airplane that will with a pitch of 52 inches, and econ- have economy seats is 13 percent, omy, with 30 seats. which is miniscule. The average airBA’s move into the U.S.-continen- plane in BA’s fleet is 70 percent tal Europe market is in part a re- economy. This is a sea change.” sponse to the much more significant ■ jboehmer@btnonline.com ■ LUFTHANSA TO ROLL OUT GDS BOOKING SURCHARGES IN FOUR COUNTRIES INSIDE TRACK Lufthansa this month announced plans to impose what amounts to a €4.90 per-way surcharge plus value-added tax on fares booked through global distribution systems in Germany and Austria beginning July 1 and in Switzerland and Liechtenstein beginning Oct. 1. Angering the travel management community in those countries, Lufthansa’s action came without industry consultation. The airline said that all of its fares will increase by €15 per way on July 1. However, the existing pre-increase fares will continue to be made available as Preferred Fares, which carry the surcharge if booked through a GDS, but not if they are booked through direct channels. At the same time, Lufthansa will stop publishing Web-only fares. “This decision was made unilaterally by Lufthansa without any prior consultation with Amadeus,” Amadeus, the GDS market leader in Germany, said, noting that the surcharge “exceeds Amadeus’average booking fee for Lufthansa flights out of Germany.” IBM NEARS FULL TRAVERSA DEPLOYMENT IBM, the launch customer for Travelport’s Traversa booking tool, is expected to complete its rollout in the first half of this year, Travelport GDS president and CEO Gordon Wilson said. “There are some countries around the world where we’re still deploying it,” Wilson said. “It’s deployed in around 20 countries already, and we’re doing the biggest ones first.”Travelport is actively selling the new tool, Wilson said, but has no immediate plans to sunset its predecessor, Travelport Classic. “It’s a big thing to change corporate self-booking tools,” he said. “We’re not going to force people off one and onto another.” OMNI WEB ENHANCEMENTS TO ENABLE MOBILE SERVICE Omni Hotels this month launched a Web site designed to eventually enable guests to access Omni services through mobile devices. The site, powered by Usablenet Mobile, already enables guests to access hotel information, make reservations and, in what Omni said is an industry first, check in to their room through mobile devices, so that their keys will be waiting for them upon arrival. In the next few months, it further will enhance the capabilities so guests can get information about amenities and make such service requests as housekeeping, valet service, baggage retrieval and room service. T&T ACQUIRES EAST COAST TMC, RELEASES TRAVEL PORTAL Travel and Transport earlier this month completed the acquisition of Peabody, Mass.-based travel management company Abacus Travel for an undisclosed amount (BTNonline, Jan. 2), giving the Omaha, Neb.-based super regional TMC its first East Coast brick-and-mortar presence. From its headquarters and three other Massachusetts and New Hampshire offices, Abacus Travel serves more than 450 small corporate accounts representing about $100 million in annual travel volume, Travel and Transport president and CEO Bill Tech said. Travel and Transport this month also announced the launch of a travel management portal, developed with third-party technology development company Guru Alliance. The Web-based single-sign-on travel buyer and traveler portal houses profile management, the online booking tool, traveler-tracking capabilities and travel alerts via FlightStats.com. Six clients recently tested the portal. T&T senior vice president and CIO of information services Mike Kubasik plans to integrate internally developed social networking capabilities into the portal this year. ■ 4 Monday, January 28, 2008 www.BTNonline.com Business Travel News http://btnonline.com/bn http://FlightStats.com http://www.BTNonline.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Business Travel News - January 28, 2008

2008 Hotel Rate Hikes Appear On Par With 2007
Business Travel News - January 26, 2008
Buyers Air Merger Concerns
Contents
GSA Deploys End-To-End Travel Technology
Marriott Adopts Regional, Account-Based Sales Focus
BTN Delivers New Look, Keeps Focus
Carlson Taps Joly as CEO
BA To Launch Transatlantic Carrier
Amex Europe’s Herrick Augurs Growth
Savings Smorgasbord
Fuel Costs Fire Up Domestic Fare Hikes
Extended Stay CEO DeLapp Gives Recap
Fine-Tuned Expense Tool

Business Travel News - January 28, 2008