Business Travel News - September 8, 2008 - (Page 3)

NEWS American Leads In Launch Of U.S. Inflight Wireless Internet BY JAY BOEHMER American Airlines in August became the first domestic carrier to launch full wireless inflight Internet access, rolling out the service across its 15-plane Boeing 767-200 fleet. Other carriers, including Alaska Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Continental Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Virgin America, are advancing their own plans to bring Wi-Fi to the sky in the coming months. American said customers traveling between New York and San Francisco, Los Angeles and Miami now can access broadband Wi-Fi services for $12.95 per flight, “enabling passengers to surf the Web, check any email, instant message, access a corporate VPN and more,” the carrier said in a statement. American is leveraging the air-to-ground network of inflight connectivity provider Aircell to launch the service. Delta Air Lines in August also partnered with Aircell to embark on an inflight Internet rollout across its entire mainline domestic fleet. Delta said 75 planes would be wired for the service by year-end, and it plans to outfit more than 330 aircraft for wireless broadband by summer 2009, representing the largest ON THE RECORD Little more than the stapling of individual carrier contracts together in an alliance wrapper. ONEWORLD’S DESCRIPTION OF ITS ALLIANCE OFFERING IN A FILING WITH THE U.S. DEPT. OF TRANSPORTATION, PAGE 14 planned rollout of inflight Internet During the first phase, it will enable to date. Delta plans to launch the customers to access Wi-Fi through service on its 133-aircraft fleet of such personal devices as laptops, MD88/90s, then expand it to the rest smart phones, PDAs and BlackBerof its domestic fleet of Boeing 737s, ry handheld devices, and the carri757s and 767-300s. Delta is following er later plans to integrate Internet Aircell’s pricing of $9.95 on flights capabilities into its inflight enterlasting three hours or less and tainment system. Virgin America $12.95 on longer said it has yet to deflights but “will look at For on-demand Webcasts, termine the service’s see btnonline.com/Webcasts package pricing and pricing structure. subscriptions,” said Delta manager Aircell executive vice president of global product development Chris of airline solutions John Happ said Babb on the carrier’s Web site. Air- prices will “morph” over time. cell’s service is limited to the 48 con“We’re focusing on the fee-based tiguous United States, but Delta ex- right now, and in the meantime pects to expand the service to we’re developing other alternatives Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. that you can expect to see in 2009 Virgin America plans to roll out and beyond,” Happ said. Aircell notWi-Fi fleetwide by spring 2009, us- ed the possibility for subscription ing Aircell’s service. A spokesperson services and, further down the road, said the carrier would begin its first direct corporate relationships. In the Continued on page 8 tests and installations in the fall. CORRECTION BTN in a recent story on BCD Travel’s Asia/Pacific strategy misspelled the name of Jebsen Travel (BTNonline, Aug. 18). BA Exec Joins Jet Set NEWSMAKER CONTENTS September 8, 2008 Issue 663 Vol. 25, No. 12 Inside Track: AA, Amadeus strike content pact . . . . . . . 4 16 Profiles In Travel Management: Bayer tasks 2 TMCs . . 6 SMMP RENEWAL BTN Research: Budget Planner 2009 . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 NBTA’s Kesler hypes Aviation: AA, BA, Iberia file for immunity . . . . . . . . 14 meeting designation. Meetings Today: Verizon dials up conferencing. . . . 16 Lodging: India’s Leela lodging execs plan growth . . 18 Asia/Pacific: Average hotel room rates rise . . . . . . . . 22 Washington Wire: Bag eases laptop screening. . . . 26 FIND DAILY NEWS UPDATES AND MORE AT WWW.BTNONLINE.COM BTN (USPS 0728-870, ISSN 8750-3670) is published monthly, except semi-monthly in March, May, July, September and October by Nielsen Business Media Inc.,770 Broadway,New York,NY 10003,tel.646-654-5000,and is distributed free of charge to qualified corporate travel buyers and travel agents specializing in business travel in the United States and Canada. The cost of a subscription to non-qualified subscribers is $119 in the U.S.; $135 in Canada; $135 in Mexico and Central America; $200 in South America and Europe; and $200 in Asia,Africa and Australia; payable in advance in U.S. dollars. Registered for GST as Nielsen Business Media Inc. USA GST No. 124513185. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No.40031729.Return Undeliverable Canadian Addresses to:DHL Global Mail 4960-2 Walker Road,Windsor,ON N9A 6J3. Business Travel News is a trademark owned exclusively by Nielsen Business Media Inc.Copyright © 2008 by Nielsen Business Media Inc.Reproduction of this magazine,in whole or in part,is prohibited unless authorized by the publisher.Editorial and advertising offices:770 Broadway,New York,NY 10003.For address changes (please include mailing label), single copy sales ($10 per issue including shipping and handling, prepayment required), subscription information, and other customer service inquiries,write to Business Travel News,P.O.Box 1187,Skokie,IL 60076,or call 847-647-7987 outside the U.S. POSTMASTER: Send changes of address to BTN, P.O. Box 1187, Skokie, IL 60076. Printed in the USA. British Airways senior vice president of commercial in North America Woody Harford plans to leave the carrier in September to join Cessna-owned fractional jet ownership and jet card membership provider CitationShares. “We’re looking to get pretty aggressive into the corporate business,” Harford said of his transition to CitationShares. Harford’s departure will be the second shake-up at the top of British Airways’ Americas team. British Airways earlier this month announced the appointment of Simon Talling-Smith as executive vice president of the Americas, replacing Robin Hayes, who left the company to become JetBlue Airways’ executive vice president and chief commercial officer. Harford said he would work with Talling-Smith to “figure out what the appropriate organizational structure might look like and what kind of appointments process we might want to conduct” to fill Harford’s position. Talling-Smith, meanwhile, settled into his new role in August, after holding several senior management commercial and operational roles since joining British Airways in 1991, most recently heading the carrier’s cabin crew and catering services. “With Simon’s wealth of experience, he is the ideal candidate to take charge of our operation in our largest overseas market,” BA commercial director Robert Boyle said in a statement. —Jay Boehmer Business Travel News www.BTNonline.com Monday, September 8, 2008 3 http://btnonline.com/Webcasts http://WWW.BTNONLINE.COM http://www.BTNonline.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Business Travel News - September 8, 2008

Business Travel News - September 8, 2008
Contents
Inside Track
Profiles In Travel Management
BTN Research
Aviation
Meetings Today
Lodging
Asia/Pacific
Washington Wire

Business Travel News - September 8, 2008