ISSUE 75 JULY/AUGUST 2015
FOR COMPANY TRAVEL & MEETINGS BUYERS Bed times
Open skies Airlines fight a war of words
By-the-hour hotels get respectable
On your marks... Get ready for the 2016 Business Travel Awards
EDITOR’S LETTER PAUL REVEL
WHAT NEXT? NEW FOR OLD UK post-election landscape – the impact on business travel 1 BBT NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2014
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM BBT
JULY-AUG15.indd 6 22/06/2015 17:18 ISSUE 75
Editor Paul Revel Digital Editor Tom Newcombe Executive Editor Bob Papworth Managing Editor Mike Toynbee Art Directors Annie Harris and Javier Otero Designer Javier Otero Sub Editor Richard Rees Contributors Caroline Allen, Simone Buckley, Catherine Chetwynd, David Churchill, Amon Cohen, Rose Dykins, Nick Easen, Martin Ferguson, Rob Gill, Clare Gilmartin, Gareth Morgan, Gary Noakes, Ian Skuse, Graham Smith, Paul Wait Publisher Chris Mihalop Events Manager Emma Gordon Marketing and Circulation Kirsty Clark Production Manager Jamie Halling Editorial tel number +44 (0)20 7821 2715 Editorial fax number +44 (0)20 7821 2701 Email address
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© 2015 Panacea Publishing International Ltd. The magazine is entirely independent of all commercial interests within the travel industry. Unsolicited manuscripts will not be accepted for publication. The opinions expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the publishers who cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions. ISSN 2041-4242
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Amon Cohen is a specialist business travel writer, conference moderator and media trainer. p33
Gareth Morgan is a political lobbyist and director with Cavendish Communications (
cavendishpc.co.uk). He is an advisor to the GTMC. p34
Paul Wait is chief executive of the Guild of Travel Management Companies (
gtmc.org). p87
Caroline Allen is the Association of Corporate Travel Executives’ regional director (
acte.org). p87
Ian Skuse is a partner and head of Piper Smith Watton LLP’s aviation, travel and tourism department (
pswlaw.co.uk). p89
Simone Buckley is chief executive of the Institute of Travel & Meetings (
itm.org.uk). p90
ONE OF THE MANY ENJOYABLE ASPECTS of this job is, unsurprisingly, travelling – often to interesting and/or lovely destinations. A recent trip was somewhat less glamorous, but fascinating: a daytrip to an aircraft hangar at Milan’s Malpensa airport, where Easyjet was hosting an ‘Innovation
day’ with some hi-tech partners. A hovering drone demo’d its 3D laser mapping technology to create highly accurate and auditable inspection records of aircraft fuselages; and virtual reality headsets created eye-popping simulacrums of cabins, for crew training. We heard how telemetrics can predict component wear, so airlines can plan cost-efficient repair schedules, and how metal 3D printing can create components that are impossible to manufacture using traditional machining methods, soon to result in aircraft engine components up to 75 per cent lighter – a boon for fuel consumption and emissions. We saw Apple Watch boarding cards, and Periscope disruption broadcasts for Twitter. Technology underpins so much of change in our industry. We see start-ups using booking technology to maximise the value of every hour from hotel rooms (p24), while Tech Talk looks at the impact of wearables (p16). But some current issues are as old as travel itself. Our Open Skies report (p56) finds airlines battling over sovereignty and fair trade – people were arguing about this long before aviation existed. And both our post-election cover story (p46) and Westminster Watch (p34) find political manoeuvring, local interests, long-term strategies sacrificed for short-term votes... Plus ça change.
Meanwhile, building trading relationships is an ancient discipline bolstered by modern data analytics: we explore how successful RFPs for airlines (p23), hotels (p36) and TMCs (p38) depend on trust, clarity, information and communication. Another venerable institution is, of course, the Business Travel
Awards, now in their 21st year: 2016 is open for entries at
businesstravelawards.com – you know what to do...
COLUMNISTS
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BBT JULY/AUGUST 2015
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