News AIRPORTS IN BRIEF Akbar Al Baker
AL BAKER TAKES SEAT ON HEATHROW’S BOARD
QATAR AIRWAYS’ OUTSPOKEN CEO, Akbar Al Baker, has joined the board of Heathrow’s holding company. Al Baker and Ali Bouzarif, from Qatar Investment Authority, have both been appointed as non-executive directors of Heathrow Airport Holdings, formerly known as BAA. The two Qatari directors have taken their seats on Heathrow’s board following the Gulf state’s sovereign wealth fund Qatar Holding’s purchase of 20 per cent of BAA for £900 million last year. Al Baker has previously criticised the UK government for its failure to increase hub capacity with Heathrow “bursting at the seams”. Heathrow Airport Holdings, which
8
changed its name from BAA in September 2012, also owns Glasgow, Aberdeen and Southampton airports. It sold Stansted to Manchester Airports Group for £1.5 billion in January, and Edinburgh airport to Gatwick’s owner Global Infrastructure Partners for £807.2 million last year. China Investment Corporation bought a 10 per cent stake in Heathrow Airport Holdings for £450 million in November, while Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC also owns 11.88 per cent. Spanish group Ferrovial remains the biggest shareholder, although its stake has been reduced to 33.65 per cent. Ferrovial was part of the consortium which purchased BAA for £10.3 billion in 2006 – less than half the company’s current value.
■ QANTAS AND EMIRATES have opened up bookings for their new joint network which begins operating from the end of March. Final authorisation for the 10-year Emirates-Qantas partnership is expected to be given by Australian regulators this month. The partnership will not only integrate the two carriers’ networks but also see Qantas shift its gateway to Europe from Singapore to Dubai. It will also link the two frequent-flyer programmes, providing “reciprocal access to tier status benefits”.
■ Wizz Air has switched its Scottish operations from Prestwick airport to Glasgow International. The no-frills carrier offers twice-weekly services to Gdansk and Warsaw.
UK TRAVELLERS
BRITISH BUSINESS TRIPS ON THE UP
BUSINESS TRAVEL TRIPS abroad by UK residents rose by 2 per cent in 2012 as the sector continued its slow recovery from the financial crisis of 2008. Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that the total number of business trips overseas last year reached 6.97 million – compared to 6.85 million in 2011 and 6.64 million in 2010. But the 2012 figure is still 23 per cent down on the peak year for business visits abroad in 2006 – 9.1 million trips. The number of overseas residents coming to the UK for business also grew during 2012, up by 2 per cent to 7.38 million trips in the previous year.
TMCs
EGENCIA: $1BILLION SALES BOOST
EGENCIA INCREASED its corporate travel sales by 37 per cent in 2012, as it continued to expand across the globe. The TMC, which is part of the world’s largest online travel company Expedia, made gross sales of US$3.6 billion last year – up from US$2.6 billion during 2011. The brand only broke through the US$2 billion sales mark in 2011. Revenue for Egencia also rose by 62.5 per cent to US$291 million for 2012, compared to US$179 million in the previous year. Egencia benefited last year from the acquisition of the VIA
Travel Group, the biggest TMC in the Nordic region. It also won accounts from major companies such as healthcare technology firm Caradigm, online deals site Groupon and software specialist Pros.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
AMEX TO CUT JOBS IN ITS BUSINESS TRAVEL DIVISION
AMERICAN EXPRESS’S business travel operation is to bear the brunt of an estimated 5,400 jobs that will be cut across the company’s worldwide operations. Amex said it would cut costs as part of a “re-engineering” of its corporate travel division, which had become necessary because of the trend towards more online bookings and automated tools. “The job reductions will take place across seniority levels,
businesses and staff groups,” said Amex in a statement. “The largest reductions will come in the travel businesses, which operate in an industry that is being fundamentally reinvented as a result of the digital revolution." Amex currently has 63,500 employees across all of its divisions around the world. But this will drop to around 60,000 by the end of this year, as some new roles will be created alongside the planned cuts.
MARCH/APRIL 2013
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128