AVIATION OUTLOOK
THE UK IS ONE OF THE MOST
DYNAMIC AND CHALLENGING MARKETPLACES GLOBALLY. BUYERS SHOULD BE INSISTING THEIR TMC KEEPS THEM UPDATED ON CHANGES TO AIRLINE RETAILING
negotiate hard with British Airways, Lufthansa or American Airlines; whether it involves trading off seats on monopoly routes with competitive ones, revenue share targets or getting better discounts on higher class seats. The focus is on targeted negotiations based on visibility, predictive analytics and business intelligence. “Those buyers who understand the missing pieces of air spend from different booking channels and payment sources will be able to exert greater leverage with vendors,” says Richard Johnson, senior direc- tor for EMEA, CWT Solutions Group. As we move into 2020, expect the trend towards dynamically managed programmes rather than the annual RFP cycle to continue. If you’ve got your ducks in a row with your data, there’s nothing to fear moving to a more agile mode of purchasing. “Buyers should be insisting their TMCs keep them updated on changes to airline retailing. There is a great deal of unrest with bigger corporates finding it hard to keep pace with news on this front,” explains Ken McLeod, director for industry affairs at Advantage Travel Partnership.
COMPLEX RETAIL FARES Going into 2020, complexity will be the friend of the airlines, not the buyer. The number of different types of fares is on the up. For example, Emirates has recently decided to “unbundle” business class fares. That means on less busy flights and/or routes, travellers could be offered cheaper tariffs which the airline brands “Special” and “Saver”. “Understanding airfare types is frustrating,”
says Sarah Marshall, travel manager at inter- national development company DAI. “What does the fare include? Will I have the surprise of baggage not being included when I check in? Is the ticket changeable? If it is, when can it be changed and what does that mean?” Meanwhile, Pascal Jungfer, chief executive at Areka Consulting, warns airlines are
buyingbusinesstravel.com 2019 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 85
BENEFITS OF NEW ROUTES
What do new routes tell you? Better economic times for some destinations and a good indicator that the security situation for once troubled spots has improved; think of British Airways restoring flights to Islamabad after a decade. The airline also has a new route to Dammam, Saudi Arabia from 1 December, while Lufthansa will connect Newcastle and Munich from 3 February next year. Brussels Airlines, meanwhile, has boosted flights to 12 times a week between Bristol and Brussels from 1 September. “Istanbul’s new airport is attracting plenty
of interest, and with increasing competition between Middle Eastern carriers, including Turkish, Etihad and Emirates – with the latter in- troducing new Business Basic fares – potentially there could be some huge benefits for travellers. It’s one to watch,” states Chris Vince, director of operations at Click Travel. Turkish Airlines has increased
capacity and its network between Europe and the Middle East, thanks to Istanbul’s new airport. This will
increase options between Asia and Europe, and could challenge some of the more established hubs in Europe and the UAE. It is interesting to see that, from October, Etihad Airways will operate a fourth daily flight out of Heathrow. China continues to evolve with 13 direct
connections from Heathrow alone. “The key ob- jective is to grow routes to China as the country brings a lot of inbound business and tourism to the UK,” states Katie Skitterall, director of sales and operations UK at ATPI. The new Beijing Airport at Daxing opens in
September, ahead of schedule, with BA and Finnair switching operations to this airport. “This will be a precursor to a larger oneworld develop- ment in China and perhaps a closer commercial agreement with China Southern,” reckons John Grant, senior analyst with OAG.
Istanbul’s new airport has boosted capacity for Turkish Airlines
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