RAIL AVIATION POLICY
LIB DEMS’ EXPANSION STANCE CRITICISED
OSBORNE PUTS EUROSTAR STAKE UP FOR SALE
THE GOVERNMENT WANTS TO RAISE £300 MILLION by selling off its 40 per cent stake in Eurostar. Chancellor George Osborne confirmed that he is seeking bidders for the cross-channel rail operator and hopes to finalise a sale during the first quarter of 2015.
He said the sale is part of the government’s national infrastructure plan which aims to sell off £20 billion- worth of public assets by 2020 to reduce public sector debt. “I am determined that we go on making the decisions to reform the British economy and tackle our debts,” said Osborne. “So we will proceed with the potential sale of the UK’s shareholding in Eurostar.” However, shadow transport secretary, Mary Creagh insisted that “Eurostar is a national strategic asset that is set to grow and to return increased profits to the UK taxpayer”.
Eurostar reported a 6 per cent growth in business travel bookings for the first half of 2014.
AIRLINES
VIRGIN ATLANTIC TO AXE LITTLE RED FLIGHTS
VIRGIN ATLANTIC WILL CEASE OPERATING its domestic Little Red service next year. The daily London Heathrow-Manchester route will stop at the end of March, while Little Red’s Heathrow to Edinburgh and Aberdeen flights will continue until September. Little Red’s key objective was to provide a feeder service for Virgin Atlantic’s long- haul network. In June
10 BBT NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2014
this year, CAA figures revealed that Little Red was operating flights that were on average 60 per cent empty. Virgin Atlantic chief executive Craig Kreeger said: “We really wanted Little Red to be a success [but] the totally inadequate number of slots made available by the European Commission did not deliver close to BA’s network position, even when supplemented by our own slots.“
AIRPORTS
GOVERNMENT URGED TO SUPPORT REGIONAL AIRPORTS
THE AIRPORT OPERATORS ASSOCIATION (AOA) has urged the government to do more to help smaller regional airports, following the closure of Blackpool, Manston and Plymouth airports.
The AOA’s CEO, Darren Caplan, said the government and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) must recognise how “crucial” smaller airports are for local businesses, and inbound and outbound tourism.
“We believe in a competitive airport sector, but it is hard to compete with hands tied behind your back,” said Caplan. “So we call on the CAA as the aviation regulator to help keep costs down in future; and we call on the Treasury to review the impact APD [Air Passenger Duty] is having on the UK’s connectivity and economy, with a view to reducing it as soon as possible.”
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
THE LIBERAL DEMOCRATS’ DECISION to rule out further expansion of any UK airport has been criticised by the travel industry and British businesses. At its annual conference in October party members voted against changing their opposition for new runways in the UK. Employers’ organisation the CBI said businesses in the UK will
be “extremely disappointed” by the decision. “Growing airport capacity in the south east is critical to the UK’s economic future,” said CBI director-general, John Cridland. British Air Transport Association CEO Nathan Stower said ruling out the Airports Commission’s shortlisted locations before the final recommendation “would not be in the national interest. The Committee on Climate Change and the Airports Commission have both concluded that expansion would be compatible with the UK’s climate change targets.”
EXPENSE MANAGEMENT
SAP ACQUIRES CONCUR FOR $8.3 BILLION
GERMAN SOFTWARE FIRM SAP has agreed to buy US travel and expense management company Concur in a deal worth around US$8.3 billion. The acquisition means the two companies together will have more than 50 million users in the cloud, and will be the second largest cloud company globally by measure of revenue.
Concur has 23,000 customers, 4,200 employees and 25 million active users in 150 countries. SAP CEO Bill McDermott said he “fully expects” all Concur staff and management to join SAP.
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