Business Travel News - April 6, 2009 - (Page 6)

NEWS IATA Doubles Loss Outlook Continued from page 3 tive month. ATA said airlines in February witnessed a 12 percent decline in passengers and an 8 percent decline in yield. J.P. Morgan aviation analyst Jamie Baker in a research note said he expected revenue to fall further in March, “largely given the Easter shift, with April trends more closely resembling those of February.” Baker noted, “From that point forward, we are modeling for neither recovery nor further deterioration.” Baker noted that sustained demand trends, “while undoubtedly weak, are nonetheless tracking in line with our expectations.” Similarly, IATA said its forecast is “based on the view that the economy and demand for air transport will hit bottom by the middle of the year.” Though U.S. carriers struggle with demand, they are faring better than airlines in other parts of the world. IATA said Asia/Pacific carriers “continue to be hardest hit by the current economic turmoil,” including a GDP drop of 5.5 percent in Japan—the region’s largest market. PROFILES IN TRAVEL MANAGEMENT Spinoff Reinvents Booz Allen Hamilton’s Travel Program The Booz Allen Hamilton global travel man- plans to lock in multiyear agreements. “If you can agement team entered a new era after last year’s get the rates down, you probably want to get spinoff of the Booz & Co. commercial manage- multi-year deals,” he added. “It’s going to come ment consulting arm. Now almost entirely a gov- back, and just like they did in 2005, they are goernment contractor, Booz Allen has revamped its ing to try and make up for the one or two years travel program, adding suppliers, lowering costs in losses with a vengeance.” Meanwhile, the company began using the and deploying a new online book ing and exConcur Travel & Expense platform, pense management tool. and Dallas and Lever led a series of Now with 1,000 fewer cardholdevents at the company’s 40-plus U.S. ers, more than 20,000 employees, offices to help build traveler aware12,000 cardholders, and the lion’s ness of the new system. “It’s been share of the company’s $100 millionmore grass-roots than anything else,” plus T&E budget remain under the said Dallas. Booz Allen now has 40 management of the Booz Allen travpercent online booking adoption in el team. “We had to be cognizant of a non-mandated environment, comthe fact that our patterns may have pared with pre-implementation peak changed,” said global travel managof 15 percent. Online transaction fees er Jack Lever. “The commercial patare 35 percent less than offline. tern is a little bit diff erent than the Once senior management saw government pattern.” the efficiencies of a consolidated tool, With those travel pattern shifts including e-receipts, receipt imagas it became primarily a cost-reiming and linking travel itineraries with bursable government contractor, expense management, Lever said it Booz Allen added low-cost carrier became the “launching pad for getAirTran Airways and United Airlines ting the buy-in”throughout the comto its preferred carrier list. Despite its pany. “The general rule is that if you Dulles International Airport hub can make an administrative task in neighboring Booz Allen’s McLean, a consulting environment happen Va., headquarters, United had been faster, that’s good,” he said. “We want absent from the air program for BOOZ ALLEN BUYERS to be in front of our clients, not conmany years, according to global travTravel managers Hillary ducting administrative tasks.” el manager Hillary Dallas. Dallas and Jack Lever The travel team plans to carry its Dallas and Lever are part of a success with garnering more data global travel management team of five who operate within the sourcing depart- and reporting capabilities through the Concur ment. Association of Corporate Travel Executives deployment into plans to implement hotel e-fopresident and former Booz Allen global sourcing lio reporting later this year, Dallas said. Corporate Travel 100 firm Booz Allen is tweakmanager Douglas Weeks has become Booz & Co.’s ing its policy to promote nonrefundable tickets director of global sourcing and travel. Booz Allen restructured its hotel program to and lowest-logical-fare bookings and reduce unbring it within government per diem rates. Lev- used ticket liability through new reporting tools and technology. er and Dallas found more negotiatTravel expenditures are on ing receptivity this year as hotel de- Access the 2008 Corporate Travel 100 pace to increase 15 percent this mand has plummeted. Hotels in see btnonline.com/ct100 year compared with 2008 levels some major markets that originally offered rates above government per diems to about $100 million as the c ompany strongly have returned at or below the rate, Lever said. increases its business travel to Asia/Pacific and “It’s very reactionary on the part of hotels and it’s the Middle East. According to Dallas, U.S.-outwhat we saw in 2001 and 2002 and up t o 2005, bound travel now makes up 30 percent of Booz when hotel chains did the same things,” he said. Allen’s travel expenditures. To offset cyclical hotel demand, Lever said he —Seth Harris Business Travel News “From April forward, we are modeling for neither recovery nor further deterioration.” JAMIE BAKER J.P. Morgan aviation analyst Europe is expected to see falls in demand, yields and profitability, IATA said, noting that capacity cuts initiated by carriers in the region have not been enough to absorb those declines. IATA noted that only the Middle East region is expected to witness some demand growth this year. However, IATA said that wouldn’t translate into profits as a modest 1 percent uptick in traffic volume meets capacity that is on track to grow nearly 4 percent. IATA said one shred of good news for the aviation industry this year comes in the form of fuel price reductions that “are helping to curb even larger losses.” IATA assumes an average fuel price of $50 per barrel this year, unchanged from previous forecasts. “Fuel is the only good news,” said Bisignani, “but the relief of lower fuel prices is overshadowed by falling demand and plummeting revenues. The industry is in intensive care. Airlines face two immediate fundamental challenges: conserving cash and carefully matching capacity to demand.” ■ jboehmer@btnonline.com ■ 6 Monday, April 6, 2009 www.BTNonline.com http://www.btnonline.com/ct100 http://www.BTNonline.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Business Travel News - April 6, 2009

Business Travel News - April 6, 2009
Contents
Inside Track: Carriers Await Joint Venture Approval
Profiles In Travel Mgmt.: Booz Allen Restructures
Forum: Iwamoto, Whitesage on Recession’s Impact
Aviation: TMCs Deploy FlightStats’ Travel Alerts
Lodging: Global Rates Drop; Lane CEO DeForrest
Travel Mgmt.: Cos. Advance Brazilian Tech

Business Travel News - April 6, 2009