INFORM
WORDS MAT THEW PARSONS
BUILDING MOMENTUM
More than 1,100 delegates attended the GBTA and VDR’s fifth joint conference in Berlin at the end of November, to take stock of the European business travel scene
THE GBTA, ALONG WITH THE German business travel buyer association VDR, themed their event “Momentum”, with panels and debates on emerging trends. One session on the centre stage,
“Airline C-Level Panel – The 2020 Vision on Aviation”, brought together three leading airline executives. Moderator Steve Dunne, of Digital
Drums, set the scene stating IATA has predicted the number of passengers flying globally will double by 2030. He asked whether the global infrastructure could cope with an increase of that size. Heike Birlenbach, senior vice- president sales at Lufthansa, said air traffic in Europe was expected to increase by 53 per cent, but air traffic infrastructure needs to be improved today. She said Lufthansa was “pushing hard for a collaboration of politics, airlines and airports”.
The panel was quizzed on Brexit, and Dunne asked Birlenbach how Lufthansa is preparing. She replied: “Air traffic and traffic rights are the biggest risks for Lufthansa, as well as supply chain management and border control, but we are getting prepared and we hope for a smooth transition to 2020.” Shai Weiss, incoming chief executive of Virgin Atlantic, said he thought a hard Brexit would be harmful to the economy and consumers.
Dunne said NDC is entering a pivotal phase. Juha Jarvinen, chief commercial officer, Finnair, spoke of its benefits, saying it was a “valid” technology. Finnair was not able to offer its full product range to corporate travellers, so it had to find the technology to do it. “NDC is giving us that… but we acknowledge it has an impact on business travel agents,” he said. Dunne also highlighted Virgin Atlantic’s absence from IATA’s NDC “leader list”, and Weiss stated his airline was focusing on the consumer side, but that it would evaluate its position this year.
STAYING AHEAD A later session, “Turning the Tables – Buyers Take Centre Stage”, saw Gehan Colliander, global head of travel at The Boston Consulting Group, and Mark Cuschieri, head of global travel management at UBS, face questions on the centre stage.
26 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019
They were asked how they stayed innovative, despite having mature travel programmes. Colliander said organisations needed to incorporate elements of what was seen in the wider industry, such as voice recognition in hotels, and merge that into individual travel programmes, and then “marry it up with company culture”. She went on to say that being mature was “not an excuse for not being an innovator”. Cuschieri added that UBS “tried to drive change, and accept change” and said you needed the right partners for a programme alongside a focus on the “digitalisation” of a travel programme. ■ This year’s GBTA conference takes place in Munich, 19-21 November
WE’RE MORE THAN A CAR RENTAL COMPANY
Konstantin Sixt, board member of sales, Sixt, was interviewed by Mike McCormick, executive director and chief operating officer, GBTA. Konstantin revealed the car hire firm’s plans to diversify its offering with “connected cars”. At German airports, customers
can use the Sixt app to open the car. “In the future, the cars will be everywhere. It’s really true mobility that we will offer here,” he said. Sixt has also invested €100 million
in tracking and diagnostic technology as part of its new software platform.
buyingbusinesstravel.com
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