Business Travel News - May 5, 2008 - (Page 18)

EXECUTIVE DASHBOARD Open Skies Ushers In Capacity Spike, More Talks Capacity surged in the first month of the new Open Skies agreement that governs transatlantic air operations, as scheduled flights from Europe to the United States were expected to grow in April from 2007 levels by nearly 10 percent— more than half involving London’s newly unrestricted Heathrow Airport, which many carriers have made the focal point of new service. Meanwhile, negotiations on the second stage of the agreement are set to begin May 15, with the European Union transportation officials aiming to address the right of EU carriers to fly between points in the United States and foreign-ownership requirements of U.S. carriers, noting that “if no substantial progress has been made by November 2010, the EU can decide to suspend certain rights granted to U.S. airlines.” The first phase of the agreement gave EU carriers the right to serve the United States from any EU airport, while giving U.S. carriers access to markets from which some had been preclud- ed, particularly Heathrow, where the EU said transatlantic flight capacity would increase 20 percent in April from 2007 levels. Data from flight information provider OAG show that the agreement is not having a similar impact on other European hubs, as transatlantic capacity growth out of Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, Frankfurt Airport and Paris Charles de Gaulle International Airport is attributed to carriers allowed to serve the United States prior to the Open Skies agreement. ■ Prior to AA’s meltdown, a Business Travel Coalition survey found 40 percent of 223 corporate travel professionals “are less willing to fly due to current aircraft maintenance issues,” while 13 percent have “skipped recent flights due to maintenance concerns and an additional 25 percent “indicate they are very likely or fairly likely to skip future flights.” Though Arpey said “it would be fair to characterize as the FAA stepping up surveillance and doing their job,” some lawmakers, government watchdogs and travel associations have questioned the relationship between FAA and domestic carriers while urging further oversight. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.) during a recent Senate Commerce Committee hearing said FAA is “too close to the industry it regulates.” ■ Maintenance Mess Clouds Outlook American Airlines’ April cancellation of thousands of flights following Federal Aviation Administration airworthiness record audits, on the heels of cancellations by several other domestic carriers, could affect corporate travel industry protocol in addition to costing AA what CEO Gerard Arpey called “tens of millions of dollars.” An Association of Corporate Travel Executives survey of 112 travel buyers released in April indicated that 62 percent are “considering adding a stipulation to their airline agreements certifying that a carrier is in compliance with FAA airworthiness directives.” However, ACTE found only 3 percent of the respondents said their trav- AVERAGE BOOKED HOTEL RATES SOARED IN 2007 Domestic International 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 $157 $141 $137 $132 $127 $129 $133 $131 $266 $230 $212 $197 $195 $188 $192 $190 AA CEO GERARD ARPEY Heavy cost to cancellations. elers had shared “significant concerns about safety, and 74 percent said recent maintenance-induced cancellations represent “more of an inconvenience than a major cost issue.” Source: American Express Business Travel Monitor BUSINESS,TRAINING EFFORTS ACCOUNT FOR MOST OF MEETINGS New StarCite benchmarking effort quantifies directions of corporate meetings spending General business 24.9% 13.1% 12.9% 2.4% 1.0% Source: A StarCite survey of 50 corporations WAIT TIMES LENGTHEN AT MOST OF THE SIX LARGEST U.S.AIRPORTS AVERAGE PEAK WAIT TIME, IN MINUTES Airport 2007 2006 2005 Training 45.7% Atlanta Hartsfield Chicago O’Hare Los Angeles Dallas/Fort Worth Denver Las Vegas McCarran 20 16 12 14 19 19 18 14 12 12 15 19 16 11 12 12 9 15 Executive/VIP/Client Incentive Trade shows Other Source: Transportation Security Administration 18 Monday, May 5, 2008 www.BTNonline.com Business Travel News http://www.BTNonline.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Business Travel News - May 5, 2008

Business Travel News - May 5, 2008
Contents
Inside Track
Profile
BTN Research
Aviation
Lodging
Travel Management
Travel Management Tech
Executive Dashboard
Corporate Travel World
Destinations

Business Travel News - May 5, 2008