Continued from page 56
generating travel has hit a wall.” They added: “There won’t be
so many trips because of costs. Travel can represent 20% and upwards of [corporate] carbon emissions. If travellers don’t take account of carbon, we won’t hit our targets.” The global travel director
at a multinational technology company said: “There is a lot of guesswork on what our travel programme for next year will look like. We’re looking to have a carbon budget and at transferring some air travel to rail.” An ITM ‘trending survey’ of
corporate travel managers and buyers conducted in November found ‘budget control’ was one of their biggest concerns, along with dissatisfaction with online booking tools and the company’s duty of care toward its travellers. Two-thirds (68%) of members
identified service delivery as the biggest challenge facing the sector, followed by travel management company service (61%) and the state of the economy (52%). One in four expected their
corporate travel budget for 2023 to be lower than this year, although half expected it to increase, and 40% said they were involved in company discussions about return on investment from travel. One in four (24%) said
they had introduced or would introduce a carbon budget for travel in 2023. ITM chief executive
Scott Davies said: “Almost all buyers expect their airlines to make commitments on use of
sustainable aviation fuel.” OCorporate travel managers and buyers at the summit spoke on condition of anonymity.
New aircraft delay hinders BA plans to restore network
British Airways plans to operate 200 flights a day more from spring 2023 than it does now, but delays in the delivery of new long-haul aircraft will hamper restoration of its full long-haul network. BA head of integrated
operations control Richard Treeves told the Institute of Travel Management Trending Summit in London last week: “We plan to operate about 200 flights a day
more next year than we are now and that is quite a challenge.” Treeves said BA’s priority in the
summer was ensuring it operated its schedule as published but: “Now it’s about making the airport experience less stressful.” He added that BA had taken on
about 5,000 cabin crew and ground- handling staff this year to ensure it could turn aircraft around. Rhett Workman, managing
director of American Airlines at Heathrow, told the summit that delays in the delivery of new aircraft were stopping the airline from adding more long-haul flights. “We and BA suffered this year because of a lack of new long-haul
BA wants to operate 200 more flights a day
aircraft. That is constraining the planning of networks,” he said. Having retired older aircraft
during Covid, it now has 100 aircraft on order, he added. “[But] Boeing and Airbus have
hundreds of companies supplying them and everyone has the same challenges [labour shortages].”
‘Super aggressive’ rate increases set to continue
Ian Taylor
Inflation fuelled “super aggressive” rises in hotel rates this summer and rate increases are likely to continue next year. That is according to the
partnerships director of a leading hospitality group who told an Institute of Travel Management Trending Summit in London last week: “We’re under financial pressures, airlines are under financial pressures, corporates are under financial pressures. But we’re going with a rate-led strategy next year. Prices are going to continue to go up.” They described hotel pricing as
“super aggressive” this year: “In the third quarter, we were 30% up on rates [on 2019] and that continued into the fourth quarter.” Dan Beauchamp, American
Express Global Business Travel head of global business consulting
54 15 DECEMBER 2022
Hotel rates have risen by 30% on 2019
Beauchamp added: “No one can
calculate the return on investment on a trip yet. [But] you can look at the correlation between density of travel and revenue.” He forecast increased scrutiny
“around why you are travelling”, saying: “We believe there will be less volume of travel. We’re already starting to see that. Travel is particularly impacted by inflation.” James Marchant, head of business
in Europe, told the summit: “Hotels have increased salaries 10%, 15%, even 20% and we’re seeing that feed through in rates.” The global travel director at a
multinational technology company agreed: “Accommodation rates are going up and it’s really challenging.” The global head of travel at a
major bank warned: “Travel costs are rising and we’ve seen a leap in the cost of managing travel. There won’t be so many trips because of cost.”
development at easyJet, argued: “What we need is cost stability.” He noted: “People love dynamic pricing when rates come down but not when they go up. “The most important thing is to
book in advance to save money. You can save 13% on easyJet if you book a week in advance and 26% if
you book two weeks in advance.” OCorporate travel managers and buyers at the summit spoke on condition of anonymity.
travelweekly.co.uk
PICTURE: Shutterstock/sdecoret
PICTURE: Steve Leach
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