p29 Air May 8 5/5/09 13:41 Page 29
ttglive.com
air news
Palmair takes off
Asiana offers agent rates as it
with Astraeus
reports a boom in UK business
BATH Travel’s Palmair service from Bournemouth
airport has started operations this summer using
a Boeing 737-500 provided by Astraeus.
Martin Ferguson.
“We expect a
Last year the service was taken over by ASIANA Airlines says its slight dip in June but
Jet2.com after the previous Bournemouth-based UK sales have burgeoned take heart from the
company that provided Bath Travel with an since Christmas despite growing popularity
aircraft went bust. the recession. of our product.”
Astraeus has now signed a three-year deal The South Korean air- Asiana pays 5%
with Bath Travel to provide the 126-seat line estimated that year- commission on pub-
Palmair-branded aircraft. Astraeus is operating on-year sales revenues lished fares and has
the flight on a “damp-lease” basis, which means increased by 45% in Jan- recently introduced
it is providing the flight crew. uary, 42% in February South Korean capital Seoul: a hub for business travellers special agents’ rates
Flights started on May 1 to European destina- and 18% in March. on its website.
tions including Faro, Monastir, Corfu, Majorca, The airline’s UK sales and marketing manager, Blake said 90% of its UK bookings came from
Tenerife and Lanzarote. James Blake, put the success down to word of the trade, with a 70:30 split in revenue between
mouth about the carrier’s product, as well as business and leisure travel passengers travelling
planning for the recession. to and connecting through Seoul.
Blake told TTG the carrier’s strategy for the “Lots of our passengers are flying via Seoul
remainder of the year was to “get in front of the and on to Australia,” he said. “Cambodia and
trade” as much as possible. Vietnam have also increased in popularity.”
“We planned well ahead of the recession and Blake said business-class sales were down
were actively pushing sales for the first quarter in line with most other carriers, but a busy
of this year,” he said. economy cabin was making up the difference.
THE ALTERNATIVE
The alternative
to increasingly
expensive bonds,
which have better
merchant acquirer
rates and a new
solution for cashfl ow
headaches
PROFESSIONAL HELP TO SET UP AND RUN
YOUR INDEPENDENT TRAVEL BUSINESS
Contact Matt Skilton on 01483 545 783
or email him at matt.skilton@traveltrust.co.uk
08.05.2009 29
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