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getting over 300 group enquiries a day, with about 50% through the trade.” Kane, who handles Ryanair’s GDS
relations, also confirmed: “We’ve reached agreement with a second GDS. It will be announced in early September and we hope to be live later this year.” She said GDS bookings “are a very small percentage of Ryanair sales”. But she expects sales to increase following this week’s business-travel product launch and said: “Expect further announcements over the next six months.” Kane is leaving Ryanair to move back to Scotland with her family. Explaining the timing of her departure, she said: “The corporate product and GDS partnership have been key projects. “If you’re managing a project, it’s difficult to walk away. “My plan is to start an MBA in Glasgow
and have 12 months out. I’ve been at Ryanair 18 years. It has been an incredible journey for me and for the airline. When I started, Ryanair was a small regional airline operating between Ireland and the UK. Now we’re the largest international airline in Europe.” Before taking her current role in January, Kane was head of sales and marketing for six years. She said: “Before that I was head of Ryanair direct for six years – at one time we had a call centre with 450 employees. I was involved in launching
Ryanair.com and in terminating our GDS relationships in 2000.” It was Kane who reintroduced GDS bookings to Ryanair this year. Now she said: “I’m going to miss Michael O’Leary and all the people here. We work incredibly hard. There is a significant amount of pressure to achieve deadlines and to be the best. But we all thrive on it. We have all been there a long time. People are very loyal.” Of her role, Kane said: “This is a
fantastic opportunity for someone and we would like my successor to come from a trade background.”
She added: “Michael [O’Leary]
thanked me for my work and wished me well, but he couldn’t understand why I would want to do an MBA.” Chief executive O’Leary recently signed a new five-year contract.
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travelweekly.co.uk — 28 August 2014
travelweeklybusiness
KUONI REPORTS TURNOVER AND PROFITS FALL IN ‘CHALLENGING’ TRAVEL MARKET
Ian Taylor
Kuoni reported a fall in turnover and profit for the six months to June and described the market as “challenging”. The group cited violence in Kenya and turmoil in Thailand as two of the problems, but forecast full-year profits would be on a par with 2013 at £56-£60 million. Kuoni posted a 6% decline in group revenue
year on year and a 9% fall in gross profit for the six months. It said: “The operating environment was made challenging by geopolitical events in Egypt, Kenya, Thailand and the Ukraine. Kuoni’s destination management operations in East Africa “suffered badly after a collapse in demand triggered by the travel warnings for Kenya. “Political turmoil in Thailand also caused
uncertainty in the winter and spring months and thus lowered demand.” The group attributed most of the decline
in gross profit to the Nordic market. It did not disclose figures for Kuoni UK, but reported 12% of group turnover was taken in sterling. Turnover across its outbound business in Europe and Asia was down 2.5% to June and trading to mid- August down 2%. Chief executive Peter Meier said: “With all the
IATA POSTS RISE IN PASSENGER NUMBERS BUT SLOW GROWTH
International air passenger numbers rose 3.7% in the first six months of this year despite growth slowing to 2.4% in June. However, airline association Iata noted the
slowdown “had been developing for months”. Iata reported passenger numbers rose just
0.7% between December and June, and it was traditional markets – the North Atlantic, Pacific and Europe-Far East – that showed the strongest growth. Separately, UK air traffic management service
Nats reported the UK air market grew 2.4% year on year in July. Iata described emerging markets as “generally
weak” and said: “Some are getting weaker.” Yet the association suggested: “Business confidence has been rising, pointing to a stronger second half.”
The UK air market
grew 2.4%
Kuoni has 30 retail outlets in the UK
negative geopolitical developments in Egypt, Kenya, Thailand and the Ukraine, the operating environment has been challenging. We expect it to remain so for the rest of this year.” He said: “In Scandinavia, price and margin
erosion prevented an increase in operating earnings in the first half. “Currency trends in Japan, India, Indonesia,
Australia, Russia and Scandinavia had a negative effect on customer sentiment.” The group reported 42% of its turnover came from non-European source markets.
Premium travel rose 3.9% year on year in the six months to June and economy travel was up 3.7%. Iata said: “The North Atlantic expanded
by more than 4% in the first half of the year. Europe-Far East was up more than 5%.” It noted premium revenues were almost 50% of the total across the Atlantic. Nats reported the highest growth in traffic to and from the UK in the transatlantic market, up 6% year on year.
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