■ CARLSON WAGONLIT HAS won the contract to manage travel for the Irish government. CWT began booking travel for government workers in Ireland from August 1 after taking over from previous agency, Dublin- based Club Travel. The bid selection process was handled by Ireland’s National Procurement Service whose criteria included the evaluation of TMCs’ cost reduction proposals, reporting capabilities and corporate social responsibility.
■ LUXURY AMERICAN serviced
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apartment brand AKA is opening its first European property in London’s Marylebone this October. AKA West End features studios, and one- and two-bedroom apartments with bespoke kitchens, complimentary wifi and local phone service with voicemail, maid and laundry services, and marble baths. Stays are for a minimum of 30 days.
QATAR AIRWAYS ADDS THREE NEW DESTINATIONS
US AIRWAYS-AMERICAN AIRLINES MERGER ‘WOULD DAMAGE COMPETITION’
A POTENTIAL MERGER between US Airways and American Airlines could lead to higher fares and less competition within North America, according to research by a business travel lobbying group. The US-based Business Travel Coalition (BTC) has
produced a white paper with the American Antitrust Institute to raise its concerns with the US government about any deal to merge US Airways and American Airlines and has called for an investigation if such a merger is agreed. US Airways wants to merge with American, which
is currently in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from its creditors, and has already agreed deals with three unions representing staff at American. American Airlines’ management has so far resisted these overtures by saying it wants to restructure on its own rather than merge with another carrier. The report from the BTC said that the merger could
“substantially reduce competition on a number of routes”, as well as creating “regional strongholds” at key US airports and “starve communities of important air service”. BTC chairman Kevin Mitchell said: “The
legacy mega-merger would complete a troubling transformation of the domestic US industry to four powerful, closed airline systems [American, Southwest, United Continental, and Delta] that would control over 70 per cent of the US market.” The 28-page white paper has been submitted
to the US Department of Justice (DOJ) which would rule on whether a US Airways-American merger could go ahead. Mitchell said there were also concerns about the “enhanced buying power” that a merged airline would have. American and US Airways are currently the fourth and fifth biggest US carriers by passenger numbers and a combined airline would become the largest operator with 20 per cent of the US domestic market. “DOJ might also focus on the potential adverse effect of the proposed merger on the carriers’ incentives to disclose ancillary service fee information,” said Mitchell.
QATAR AIRWAYS WILL start daily flights from Doha to Chicago from April 2013 and is also adding two destinations to its European network by the end of this year. The airline’s daily
Chicago services begins on April 10, while Qatar is also adding the previously announced destination of Belgrade from November 20, which will operate via Ankara; and Doha-Warsaw is scheduled to start on December 5. The Chicago route will be Qatar’s fourth US destination after New York, Washington and Houston. It will be served by a two-class B777-300ER with 42 business and 293 economy seats. The airline’s CEO, Akbar Al Baker, said Chicago is a key route for business travellers, and he expected it to be used by connecting
EVENTS
EIBTM SHOW TO INCLUDE
BUSINESS TRAVEL FOR FIRST TIME
MEETINGS AND EVENTS SHOW EIBTM is to include business travel for the first time at its trade show in Barcelona this November. Reed Exhibitions, which also owns the Business
Travel Market held annually in London, announced that EIBTM would feature business travel at the show from November 27-29. Corporate travel activities will include an exhibitor pavilion on the showfloor and education sessions run by ACTE. Organisers said that it had decided to make the move
after research from last year’s show found that 57 per cent of international hosted buyers also had responsibility for business travel within their companies.
passengers from India, Africa, the Middle East and Asia Pacific, as well as attracting more US-based corporate passengers to rapidly-growing Qatar. Chicago O’Hare is the
world’s second busiest airport, handling 70 million passengers a year. Qatar will be competing on the route with fellow Gulf carrier Etihad, which started direct flights to Chicago in 2009. Al Baker said the two new
European services raised the number of destinations Qatar served on the continent to 32. Flights to Belgrade will operate three times a week while Warsaw will have four weekly departures. Other new Qatar
services starting later this year include Rangoon, in Burma, on October 3 and Mozambique’s capital Maputo on October 31.