The findings of the Annual Airfare Study, which crunched 921 million airfares from 2.9 million trips to find the best and worst times to buy an airline ticket, were released today. For the second consecutive year, the study found that 54 days out is, on average, when travelers can get the best deals on domestic flights. However, the best timing depends on when and where passengers fly. The study found that the lowest fare for a given flight changes an average of 71 times between the time...
The negotiating team for Southwest material specialists has reached a tentative agreement to amend their current collective bargaining agreement with Southwest Airlines. The negotiating team is comprised of Teamsters Airline Division International Representatives, local union business agents and rank-and-file committee members. The agreement marks an end to a successful round of negotiations that originally began in September of 2013. The agreement is a result of bargaining that led to an...
Grupo Aeromexico S.A.B. de C.V. today reported March 2017 operational results. • Grupo Aeromexico transported 1 million 680 thousand passengers in March; a 6.0% year-on-year increase. International passenger numbers increased by 5.5%, while domestic passenger numbers increased by 6.2%. • Demand, measured in Revenue Passenger Kilometers (RPKs), increased by 12.1%, year-on-year. Aeromexico’s capacity, measured in Available Seat Kilometers (ASKs), increased by 9.7%, year-on-year. •...
The Boeing Company announced today deliveries across its commercial and defense operations for the first quarter of 2017. Major program deliveries during the first quarter, including deliveries under operating lease (which are identified by parentheses), were as follows: Major Programs 1st Quarter 2017 Commercial Airplanes Programs 737 113 747 1 (1) 767 2 777 21 787 32 Total 169 Defense, Space & Security Programs AH-64 Apache (New) 3 AH-64 Apache (Remanufactured) 13 C-17 Globemaster III CH...
Representatives from 24 countries of both private and public nature involved in the Silk Road Task Force have convened in the Mediterranean city of Valencia, Spain, to discuss strategies and best-practice examples on how to adapt the Silk Road to the challenges and opportunities of the globalized tourism age. The 7th UNWTO Silk Road Task Force event was held on 30-31 March 2017. The discussions addressed the three pillars of the Silk Road Action Plan: i) marketing and promotion ii) destination...
Rwandan national airline, RwandAir, launched four times weekly service between Rwanda’s capital city of Kigali and Zimbabwe’s capital Harare. The airline will fly between Kigali and Harare (via Lusaka) on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The airline’s official said that the carrier is looking to increase the frequency next month and start offering day and night flights. RwandAir will use Next Generation 737-800 aircraft to service the route. RwandAir’s move...
Senior executives from more than two dozen airports across the country are in Ottawa today to meet with parliamentarians and highlight the important role airports play in Canada’s economy. “Airports provide connections for passengers and cargo across Canada and around the world, resulting in greater global reach and increased business, export, tax revenues, tourism and job opportunities for Canada,” said Daniel-Robert Gooch, president of the Canadian Airports Council (CAC)...
Vancouver International Airport (YVR) today announced its proprietary line of self-serve border control solutions, BorderXpress, has been expanded to meet the requirements of Canada Border Service Agency’s (CBSA) new Primary Inspection Kiosk (PIK) program. Under the PIK program, the CBSA is expanding its use of border kiosks at Canadian airports, and will now offer selfservice options to an increased number of incoming international travelers. “Border clearance kiosks are the way of the future...
Today Viking Line signed a conditional shipbuilding contract with the Chinese company Xiamen Shipbuilding Industry Co. concerning a new passenger cruise ship for the Turku (Finland)–Aland Islands–Stockholm (Sweden) route, delivery in 2020. A final agreement is subject to the approval of the Board of Directors of both the buyer and the seller, as well as financial arrangements entered. The total contract amount is about 194 million euros. The agreement also includes an option on another vessel...
Tourisme Montréal is relaunching Passeport MTL, a single card for discovering Montréal’s top attractions. The card gives users access to 23 attractions and unlimited public transportation using the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) network, which includes the 747 bus that runs between Montréal-Trudeau airport and downtown. Valid until March 31, 2018, Passeport MTL represents more than $300 in admissions to the following attractions: • Montreal Museum of Fine Arts • Pointe-à-Callière...
Alaska Airlines and Virgin America today announces new daily, nonstop service between Portland, Oregon, and New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) beginning Nov. 6; Portland and Detroit beginning Aug. 30; and Los Angeles and Philadelphia beginning Sept. 1. “Alaska Airlines continues to expand service from our West Coast hubs by adding convenient, nonstop flights to popular destinations like New York City, Philadelphia and Detroit,” said John Kirby, vice president of capacity...
Sabre Corporation, a global technology provider to the travel and tourism industry, will provide consulting services to several of its member airlines through a new agreement with the African Airlines Association (AFRAA). Ten carriers will take part in Sabre’s consulting program – including Rwandair, South African Airways and Royal Air Maroc – which will include a comprehensive analysis of the airlines’ brands and customer satisfaction and will provide each airline with a Net...
Eleven Madison Park in New York has secured the No.1 spot in the 2017 list of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants. In taking the No.1 position, Eleven Madison Park earns the dual titles of The World’s Best Restaurant and The Best Restaurant in North America. This year’s winners were revealed at an awards ceremony in Melbourne. The 2017 list welcomes six brand new entries. France, Spain and the USA each count six restaurants on the list. Among the seven restaurants in Asia on the...
Budapest Airport has welcomed five strategically important new connections with Wizz Air, the ultra-low-cost carrier now linking the Hungarian gateway to five capitals in the Balkans region: Skopje (Macedonia), Podgorica (Montenegro), Tirana (Albania), Pristina (Kosovo) and Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina). Speaking at today’s press conference, Jost Lammers, CEO, Budapest Airport said: “The launch of Wizz Air’s latest links is a significant step in re-establishing good connections between...
Airways New Zealand is celebrating its 30th anniversary. The air navigation services provider (ANSP) was one of New Zealand’s first State Owned Enterprises and one of the first ANSPs to corporatise globally. Formerly the Civil Aviation Division of the Ministry of Transport, Airways started its new life as an SOE in April 1987. “The move put Airways at the cutting edge of change and is something that many of our counterparts are only considering now,” CEO Ed Sims says. “Since then we have kept...
Vietjet (VJC – HOSE) announces its consolidated financial statements of 2016, audited by KPMG International Auditing Company. Following the international standard initial public offering procedures (Reg-S), Vietjet released financial statements in compliance to the Vietnamese Accounting Standards (VAS) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). According to the audited report, Vietjet enjoyed an extremely successful year in 2016 netting the highest recorded revenue and profit...
A regional workshop on sustainable destination management and marketing has ended in Saint Lucia with a commitment by participants to improve the tourism product and stakeholder engagement. The 27-31 March workshop, organized by the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) and the United Nations agency, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), brought together 26 stakeholders in the tourism industry from 12 CTO member countries to explore ways to make their destinations and the region more globally...
Hahn Air announced that in the first quarter of this year it has already integrated eleven new carriers into its global network of more than 300 air, rail and shuttle partners. With its ticketing solutions, the German IATA airline facilitates global business between travel agencies and airlines. Its global infrastructure consisting of connections to all major Global Distribution Systems (GDS) and memberships in almost all Billing and Settlement Plans (BSPs) enables 100,000 travel agencies...
The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), the region’s tourism development agency, has appointed experienced travel professional Nancy Drolet as business development representative for Canada. Ms. Drolet, whose appointment took effect from 1 April, will implement the CTO’s business development plan for the Canadian market, maintain consistent interaction with the travel industry, the Caribbean Diaspora and national tourist office representatives in Canada and organise trade and consumer events...
TAP Portugal has introduced a new branded fare structure aimed at offering customers more freedom of choice when purchasing tickets for intercontinental flights. Similar to the new branded fares that launched September for Europe and North Africa, customers can now select the products, throughout the entire TAP network, that best meet their travel needs, in a simple and transparent way, and pay only the price corresponding to the products they most value. There are four fare brand options...
Geneva – The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released demand growth results for global air freight markets for February 2017 showing an 8.4% increase in demand measured in freight tonne kilometers (FTKs) compared to the same period last year. After adjusting for the impact of the leap year in 2016, demand increased by 12% — almost four times better than the five-year average rate of 3.0%. Freight capacity, measured in available freight tonne kilometers (AFTKs), shrank by 0...
New Orleans has broken tourism records again! The “Big Easy” welcomed 10.45 million visitors, who spent $7.41 billion in the city in 2016. According to New Orleans’ tourism officials, visitor spending increased by 5.1 percent compared to the visitor spending record set in 2015. New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau reported that visitation to the city in 2016 was the highest since 2004 and increased by 6.9 percent compared to 2015.
The Crystal Cabin Awards were presented in Hamburg for the 11th time on Tuesday evening. The winners of the most famous and prestigious international prize for aircraft interiors, Delta Air Lines, Diehl, Global Eagle Entertainment, Vanema, the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW) and twice Airbus, received their trophies in the Ball Room of the Hotel Atlantic Kempinski. More exciting than ever before – with Bombardier, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, three international...
One single digit suffices to understand the extent of the revolution led by the “sharing economy” on the world of services: in 2015, the turnover between private housing, transport, and private demand for professional services with “Burter” mode totaled about 28 billion euro. However, according to a research by PhoCusWright, the real impact will be in 2025 when under the so-called sharing economy, transactions directly or indirectly related to tourism, transport, and the world of travel, will...
China Southern Airlines has confirmed a second daily departure between Heathrow and Guangzhou starting the 1st of June of this year. The airline’s twice daily service, the only direct connection between the UK and southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, is strategically important for a global, outward looking Britain. The new service will use a Boeing 787 Dreamliner and will lower transfer times to China Southern Airlines’ network of over 120 destinations in China, Japan & Korea, South East...
Boeing has signed a $3.4 billion deal with Iran’s Aseman Airlines to supply 30 737 MAX aircraft to the carrier. It’s the first Boeing deal with Tehran since President Donald Trump took office pledging to take a harder stance with the country. Aseman is owned by Iran’s civil service pension fund and operates as a private company. It is the third-largest carrier in Iran. The 30 jets are to be delivered as part of a larger deal, which implies a possible delivery of another 30 planes to...
Japan has increased its network of visa application centers in India, adding 13 new cities to make it easier for Indians to apply for Japanese visa. The centers now cover several areas in north, east, west and south India, and come at a time when Japan is getting ready to host the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. The Visa Centers are managed by VFS Global. Over the past few months, new cities were gradually being added, but now in one go 13 additional cities have been added to the list. This will help...
BENCHMARK. a global hospitality company, has named Matina Lapanaitis general manager for The Mayfair Hotel, a Benchmark Resorts & Hotels property located in Los Angeles, California. Greg Champion, BENCHMARK’s president, made the announcement. “I am pleased to announce Matina’s newest position within our company, said Mr. Champion. “She brings strong managerial skills and significant local and regional market experience to her new role as general manager of The Mayfair Hotel.” A seasoned...
Summit Hotel Properties, Inc. reported today the following: • Completion of the previously announced acquisition of the 129-guestroom Homewood Suites by Hilton Aliso Viejo-Laguna Beach; • Acquisition of the 152-guestroom Hyatt Place Phoenix-Mesa; • Sale of the 150-guestroom Hyatt Place Atlanta Airport North; and • Receipt of proceeds from Hospitality Investors Trust, Inc. for the repayment of a $27.5 million loan. “We are thrilled with our ability to source unique acquisitions and the...
This weekend, Viceroy Hotel Group (VHG) raised the curtains to unveil Viceroy Palm Jumeirah Dubai, a stunning beachfront resort at the center of Dubai’s thriving hospitality landscape. Viceroy Palm Jumeirah Dubai is home to 477 rooms and suites, including 352 guestrooms, 85 suites and 40 hotel apartments located across 16 floors. Designed by Yabu Pushelberg and NAO Taniyama and Associates, this Icon Collection masterpiece showcases sweeping, unobstructed views of the surrounding city...
