AIRLINES AIRLINES
Malaysia Airlines ‘technically bankrupt’
Government sells off controlling stake in TAP
PORTUGAL IS TO SELL ITS CONTROLLING STAKE in national airline TAP to a consortium led by American-Brazilian investor David Neeleman. The Portuguese government picked a e348 million bid from Neeleman – the founder of US airline Jet Blue and the CEO of Azul Brazilian Airlines – and Portuguese bus company owner Humberto Pedrosa. The government is selling a 61 per cent controlling stake in TAP but will
retain 34 per cent, which it can sell in two years. Staff will be entitled to the remaining 5 per cent. The consortium has agreed to maintain Lisbon as the airline’s main hub for a minimum of 30 years.
LOYALTY
BA RE-LAUNCHES ITS SME ‘ON BUSINESS’ REWARDS SCHEME
BRITISH AIRWAYS HAS RE-LAUNCHED its ‘On Business’ scheme, aimed at small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Companies that sign up to the free- to-join programme will earn triple points on their first six flights or on selected
PRICE FORECAST Revised forecast predicts drop in airfares
BCD TRAVEL’S CONSULTING ARM, Advito, has revised its 2015 forecast to predict a slight fall (2-3 per cent) in US regional and intercontinental economy airfares. With regional European economy flights now projected at -1 per cent,
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all global economy fares are now predicted to flatline or fall this year. Advito says this is due demand not keeping pace with increased capacity encouraged by low oil prices.
On the hotel side,
Advito says the US market continues to
see strong demand, so forecast increases remain the same, at 6-7 per cent. But ‘softer demand’ means it has slightly downgraded Europe’s hotel price increases (1-4 per cent), including the UK’s, at a forecast 3-5 per cent rise.
routes with airline partners within a year of joining.
In changes similar to those BA made to its Executive Club programme, points are now awarded based on spend rather than miles flown.
Rotana to open 11 hotels in 2015
ROTANA HOTELS AND RESORTS is to open 11 properties over the next six months.
The hospitality company will expand its portfolio across six different markets including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Africa and Turkey (it will enter the latter for the first time.) The new hotels will add 2,765
rooms to Rotana’s 13,500-plus room stock across its properties.
BBT JULY/AUGUST 2015 13
MALAYSIA AIRLINES’ CEO HAS ANNOUNCED the company is “technically bankrupt” as he unveiled plans for a complete restructure and 6,000 job losses. Newly-appointed Christoph Mueller confirmed the plans at a news conference. He said the “decline of performance” started long before the two tragic events that hit the airline last year – the disappearance of flight MH370 and the shooting down of MH17 over Ukraine. Mueller was making his first public appearance as chief executive since being hired by the carrier’s owner, Malaysian state fund Khazanah, to lead the restructuring. He has become known as a ‘turnaround specialist’ after similar roles at Aer Lingus and Lufthansa. Malaysia Airlines plans to rebrand in September but Mueller said the immediate priority is to “stop the bleeding” in 2015. It hopes then to stabilise next year, and seek growth again by 2017. Mueller previously announced Malaysia Airlines was entering voluntary administration but operations would continue to be “very much business as usual”.
HOTELS
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