Travel Weekly Group Ltd

📅 The 8th Global Business Travel Review, published by The Advantage Travel Partnership and Travelogix, analyzed 33.7m business travel bookings from Jan 1, 2019, to Dec 31, 2024, totaling £16.5bn. In 2024, transactions increased by 15.5% over 2023, except in June, which saw a 15.48% decline. The average transaction value dropped from £429.35 in 2023 to £399.81 in 2024. Economy class bookings rose to 79.81% in H2 2024, while business class bookings decreased to 14.69%. The average trip duration also dropped by 33% to 4.62 days. Factors include economic pressures, corporate policy changes, and sustainable travel trends. Forecasts predict an 8-11% growth despite macroeconomic challenges.

🛄 A survey by Outpayce from Amadeus involving 4,500 travellers across five markets indicates that over 70% prioritize strong payment security when choosing a travel company. A majority (67%) would not accept a 5% discount to compromise on cybersecurity, and on average, a 38% discount is needed to consider a company with poor cyber safety. Half of the respondents have experienced payment fraud, with Brazil reporting a 90% victim rate, while the UK and France are at 38% and 37%, respectively. About 64% believe payment fraud is on the rise, with 46% of all payments fraud targeting the airline industry. Two-thirds of consumers have had a travel company wrongly decline their purchase. Moreover, 63% hesitate to store payment details with travel companies due to fraud concerns, and stronger security measures like tokenization and Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) are being adopted, despite some friction in the purchase process.

✈️ RwandAir, in collaboration with HBX Group and Onlinetravel, has launched RwandAir Holidays, an integrated all-in-one travel booking platform on their website. Customers can now plan and book a complete trip, including flights, hotel stays, airport transfers, in-destination experiences, seat selection, baggage addition, and travel insurance in a single process. HBX Group recently assisted Turkish Airlines with a similar service. RwandAir's new platform aims to provide seamless travel experiences and unlock new revenue streams.

✈️ Air France-KLM partnered with Accenture to move digital applications to the cloud, moving away from three proprietary data centers. This multi-year agreement includes a co-led initiative with a common operating model and governance process. A cloud migration factory with predefined processes has deployed 350 applications successfully, accelerating time-to-market. The collaboration aims to build resilience, enhance agility, and improve operations, leveraging cloud and AI for digital transformation and competitive advantage in air travel.

🏨 SIHOT, a hotel management systems firm, has enabled guests to add hotel reservations to their Apple or Google Wallets, using a QR code for simplified check-in. This digitalisation integrates with SIHOT.PMS, SIHOT.WEB, SIHOT.KIOSK, and SIHOT.GO! products, optimizing guest identification at self-service terminals and front desk. Carsten Wernet, SIHOT's CEO, highlights the enhancement of guest convenience and operational efficiency, aiming to reduce email clutter and check-in queues. Guests must still provide necessary information for their stay despite the digital reservation confirmations.

🏨 RateHawk, a B2B hotel booking platform, partners with Hays Travel Independence Group, offering 120+ members access to over 2.6 million accommodation options in 220+ countries. The partnership expands RateHawk's inventory, sourced from 300+ wholesalers and 120,000 directly contracted properties. In the past year, RateHawk added 70 wholesalers and 30,000 direct contracts, increasing its partners by 50% to over 93,000 travel professionals globally.

✈ IndiGo, India's largest airline, is set to implement Amadeus Segment Revenue Management Flex (SRM Flex), a web-based application. The system enables near real-time data from IndiGo's Navitaire New Skies® PSS via Revenue Management Integration Service (RMIS), allowing the carrier to quickly respond to market changes. SRM Flex's cloud-based RMS can adjust pricing rules based on the airline's strategy, automate processes, and enhance operational efficiency. Abhijit Dasgupta, SVP of IndiGo, emphasizes the move as part of IndiGo's growth and adaptation in the aviation industry, combining data science and machine learning with Amadeus' technology. Javier Laforgue, EVP at Amadeus, and David P. Evans, head of Navitaire, express confidence in supporting IndiGo's revenue maximization and expansion.

✈ The global commercial charter market is valued over €100 billion annually. Airlines have underestimated charter flights, which offer fully prepaid flights with no marketing costs, despite demand from group travel, corporate incentives, and major events. Inefficiencies in the charter sector persist due to reliance on manual workflows, with transactions often needing hundreds of emails. Without digital tools and structured data, airlines lack insight into demand, missing out on strategic opportunities to integrate charters into their operations. The cargo industry's digital transformation contrasts with the outdated practices in passenger charter flights. Modern digital tools exist for airlines to improve fleet utilisation and yield through charter flights.