GROUND TRANSPORT
Uber & Lyft ‘over- take car rental’
SHARING ECONOMY FIRMS UBER AND LYFT have overtaken both taxi and car rental as the most popular ground transportation providers for business travellers, according to a report by expense management firm Certify. The analysis of more than 9 million US business traveller receipts and claims showed an increase of 4 per cent in ‘ride-hailing’ transactions over the fourth quarter of 2015. Receipts from providers Uber and Lyft accounted for 46 per cent of the total ground transportation category tracked by Certify in Q1, 2016. It compared this to two years earlier – ride-hailing services accounted for 8 per cent of ground transport spend in Q1, 2014. Certify predicts that Lyft will become “a bigger player in the business travel market” this year, adding that it “closed a US$1 billion round of investment at the end of 2015, including US$500 million from General Motors (GM) that will no doubt prepare the company for tougher competition in the year ahead. “One way GM and Lyft plan to take on Uber is by creating a number of short-term car rental hubs in the US that will allow people who do not own a car to become income-earning Lyft drivers.
AIRLINES
IAG BOSS: GOVERNMENTS SHOULD ACT ON FRENCH AIR TRAFFIC STRIKES
THE CEO OF BRITISH AIRWAYS PARENT COMPANY IAG, Willie Walsh, has called on British and French governments to help minimise the impact of air traffic control strikes in France. The latest action at the end of March was the 43rd strike day in France since 2009. The previous two-day strike caused over 1,000 flight cancellations with more than one million passengers affected. Walsh said: “Flights to France and those which overfly the country are affected, which, due to its size and geographic location, means major cancellations and delays.
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM “We urge the British
government to work with the French government to minimise the impact of strike action.” Airlines 4 Europe (A4E), the aviation lobby group set up in 2015 comprising Air France-KLM, Easyjet, IAG, Finnair, Lufthansa, Norwegian and Ryanair, said the industrial action is “seriously impacting” thousands of passengers’ travel plans. A4E managing director Thomas Reynaert said: “It is unacceptable that airlines and their customers can be repeatedly punished by these unjustified strikes. We call on the European Commission to act immediately to defend consumers.”
Powerscourt Hotel, Dublin
Special report: CAPA Aviation Summit
BBT digital editor Tom Newcombe reports from the Powerscourt hotel in Dublin
Environmental issues, traveller behaviour and personalisation were key themes at the summit in Dublin. IATA chief executive Tony Tyler, who recently announced he is stepping down from the organisation, urged the aviation industry to do more to “become greener” and better understand the environmental concerns the public has around airlines. “Unless we as an industry start looking more at our
environmental operations then we will be in trouble,” said Tyler. However, he did praise the sector on some of the work undertaken and hoped for a “revolutionary change” in airlines’ views towards becoming “carbon neutral”. Travelport senior vice-president Derek Sharp spoke about mobile technology and the way it is transforming the airline industry. “Traveller and buyer behaviour is increasingly being driven by the mobile environment, especially with last-minute bookings,” he said.
He also highlighted a milestone for Travelport’s Rich Content and Branding platform – with 150 airlines signed up. Skyscanner director Hugh Aitken said his organisation was
having to respond to a “huge change” in booking behaviour towards mobile. He said: “On the website we have around 60 million visitors a month and 50 per cent of those are now on mobile. People still haven’t fully adopted to booking the trip the whole way through on a phone, but that will change.” Also speaking at the three-day event was Amadeus
vice-president of distribution marketing, Decius Valmorbida, who said suppliers must adapt to the speed in which consumers can move from one market space to another. “Traveller behaviour is the largest element of disruption facing the airline industry,” he said. “It is often associated with risk, with people saying change will come and won’t be beneficial. However, I feel the opposite and see tremendous opportunity in what is happening.” Sabre director Richard Castle discussed the airline industry’s
failure to “really know” who their traveller is and the lack of personalisation. “The level of personalisation in aviation is still in its infancy,” he said.
BBT MAY/JUNE 2016 13
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