http://egyptianstreets.com/ Emirates, Air France-KLM, and Lufthansa Suspend Flying Over Egypt‟s Sinai German carrier Lufthansa, the Franco-Dutch Air France-KLM, and Emirates have suspended all flights over Egypt‟s Sinai peninsula pending the completion of investigations into what caused a Russian passenger plane to crash in Egypt‟s North Sinai. “We took the decision to avoid the area because the situation and the reasons for the crash were not clear,” a Lufthansa spokeswoman said. Air France-KLM stated similar reasons for the suspension. “Air France confirms it has set up, as a precaution, measures to avoid flights over the zone of Sinai,” said a spokesperson. Following Air France-KLM and Lufthansa, Emirates also stated that it will suspend flying over North Sinai. Meanwhile, other airliners, including British Airways, said they have no plans to change their routes. On Saturday, flight Kogalymavia 9268, carrying 200 adults, 17 children and seven crew members, crashed in Egypt‟s North Sinai shortly after take off. Bodies that have been recovered have been transported to Cairo. While the exact cause remains unclear, Egypt‟s Prime Minister Sherif Ismail announced that the black box had been recovered and that it should likely shed light onto the causes of the crash. Earlier claims by ISIS affiliate Wilayat Sinai that it was responsible for downing the Russian airplane have been denied by Egypt, Russia, and analysts across the world.
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Faulty past: Crashed Russian jet suffered „tail strike‟ in 2001 The Russian plane that crashed in Egypt‟s Sinai Peninsula killing all the 224 people on board had suffered “sustained damage” during a “tail strike” incident while landing at Cairo airport in 2001. The Airbus A321 had a so-called “tail strike” as it attempted to land at Cairo airport in Egypt in November 2001. A tail strike is when the rear section of an aircraft hits the runway on landing. The incident took place when the airliner was operated by Middle East Airlines, according to the Aviation Safety Network. “The aircraft that crashed into the desert in Sinai suffered „sustained damage‟ during an incident 14 years ago,” The Sunday Times reported. It was later operated by Onur Air, a Turkish airline, and Saudi Arabian Airlines, and has been flown by Metrojet since 2012. The “tail strike” incident has come into focus as air accident investigators travelled to the crash site in a mountainous area south of the town of el-Arish. On Saturday, Airbus declined to comment on the earlier incident “We are supporting the investigation authorities with all the necessary information we have,” a spokesman was quoted as saying. The aircraft was 18 years old and had accumulated 56,000 flight hours in nearly 21,000 flights. “That‟s not old for an aeroplane,” said David Learmount, consulting editor at Flightglobal, an aviation news website. Saturday‟s jet crash is the second tragedy to hit the Kogalymavia airline, which trades as Metrojet, in four years. Three people were killed and 43 injured in January 2011 when a Tupolev Tu-154 operated by the company caught fire while it was taxiing at Surgut airport in Russia‟s Urals. The Airbus A321, part of the A320 series, is a modern airliner and is regarded as having a good safety record. Seating up to 240 passengers, the twin-engined jet is a “workhorse” of global aviation, used for short to medium-range flights. An A320 takes off or lands every 2.5 seconds somewhere in the world and, according to Airbus while the A321 variant “offers the lowest fuel burn, emissions and noise footprint in its class.” There have been 16 serious incidents involving the A321 but only one other fatal crash.
http://www.meetings-conventions.com/ Meeting Airfares Are Back! How to get airline discounts in the wake of merger fever Judging from the news, airlines stand out these days for what they don't offer: hot meals in coach, generous leg room, fees that make sense. The good news, however, is this: Carriers are still offering meeting fares, especially for larger groups, although the offers have changed along with everything else. Groups as small as 10 to 20 passengers can qualify for a deal, and the process of snagging a discount can take as little as 10 minutes. Shrinking competition Today, fewer airlines are left fighting for a piece of the meetings market, but the market itself is thriving. Nearly $20 billion annually is spent on air travel in connection with meetings in the U.S. alone, according to studies conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers for the Convention Industry Council. That's a significant share of the roughly $170 billion in revenues the domestic airline industry reported last year. "We see it as an important sector for us, which is why we are committed to being in this space," says Barbara Laken, director of specialty sales for United Airlines. United, of course, is a very different company than it was even three years ago, thanks to its mega-merger with Continental. As it aligned its programs with its partner's, United revamped its convention program, offering not only reduced fares for groups of at least 20 traveling to an event from two or more cities, but also bonus credits for organizers that can be redeemed for future travel. (For a broader list of program details by carrier, see sidebar, "Cheat Sheet:
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)2( Airline Meeting Fares at a Glance".) In fact, most U.S. airlines' meeting fare programs have undergone changes in the past few years, as a quartet of mega-carriers emerge from the merger wave. Sharing the bulk of the market with United are Delta Air Lines, which absorbed Northwest in 2010; American, now cementing its union with US Airways; and Southwest, which bought AirTran (although it still retains its brand as a budget maverick). Mergers inevitably mean mashing together companies with differing policies on everything from drink prices to labor rules. That includes blending group sales departments, which might have conflicting rules on handling meetings. American at press time was going through the final stages of its merger with US Airways, positioning it to be the world's largest carrier. But one of the many decisions American made in the process was to scale back its meeting fare program, which had offered percentagebased discounts for travelers from multiple locations. This move reportedly was to bring American in line with US Airways' policies. American does, however, continue to offer group travel discounts for those traveling together on the same flight, and also offers a refundable zone-fare program that can be used for conventions. American says its program is still evolving. According to a spokesperson, the carrier views meetings business as "very important" and "will continue to look at how we offer fares to access the full network." American's move has stoked concerns that as the industry consolidates, carriers might be less willing to negotiate favorable rates for meeting delegates. "It's obviously a sellers' market, and demand is really strong," said an executive at a major airline, who requested anonymity. "That's putting pressure on the pricing team, who might be asking why they need to discount at all" for what is, in reality, a business trip. As anyone who's been on a domestic flight has noticed, planes are fuller than ever, with an average load factor, or percentage of seats occupied, of well over 80 percent. Airlines are making a profit, and while airfares aren't rising as fast as some observers had feared, carriers are tightening rules on other programs like awards plans and youth and senior fares. M&C spoke to airline sales officials and meeting planners about this new landscape and what it means for the meetings business. The upshot: The news isn't all bad.0.
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)3( When it comes to moving large groups of people, there are obvious advantages to size. More than 80 percent of the total air traffic in the United States is handled by the four biggest airlines. Midsize and niche lines -- like Alaska, JetBlue and Virgin America -- are doing well financially, but their share of the business pales in comparison. Still, these smaller players do work with meeting planners, especially for events in their hub cities. Alaska, for example, will arrange a discount code for groups of 20 or more. However, a source at JetBlue conceded that its meeting program doesn't generate much business. Size also is a distinct advantage for the trio of global airline alliances -- Oneworld, Skyteam and Star Alliance -- which have gone through their own growth spurts in recent years and now represent about three-quarters of the world's airline business. Each of these looseknit fraternities includes dozens of carriers and can rightfully claim to cover the globe. (For a breakdown of alliances and member carriers, see "Allied Forces".) And each is tapping convention business, rolling out new or revamped meetings programs over the past few years. "We can really offer a one-stop shopping service for a meeting of any size," says Olav Glorvigen, director of sales and market development for Star Alliance, which has 28 member carriers serving 192 countries. Its sheer girth, significantly larger than the others, is a major selling point in its pitches. "You could have a conference in Vienna and get someone there even from the smallest village in Indonesia, and it could all be handled by the same airline network," Glorvigen notes
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)4( To avoid competing with the meetings programs of their own member airlines, alliances typically require that any meeting they handle must have a significant international component, with delegates coming from at least two countries outside the host nation. Ed Hollo, Amsterdam-based sales manager for Skyteam, says some meetings might seem a good fit for one of its airline members, rather than being handled by the alliance, based on where attendees are coming from. One recent case involved a large conference in Atlanta that went to Skyteam for its air-travel arrangements. "Delta, of course, has its hub there and has a very good meeting program," notes Hollo. "But what it came down to was scope, and even Delta wasn't in a position to meet all the needs of this event," which drew some 40,000 attendees from 20 countries. It's one thing to have a robust program; it's another to make sure travelers use it. In fact, one source of frustration for both airlines and meetings organizers is the number of travelers who "go rogue" and book their flights outside the official channels. "That's the nature of this business," says Alvarado. "If the booking is left to the individual traveler, they may have other alternatives, or their corporate travel agency may have other arrangements," including negotiated fares. Lack of program compliance is a hot topic among airline meetings teams these days, says Jimmy Romo, Delta's general manager for specialty sales. "That's a question we continue to try to solve," he notes. "Most airlines believe that their programs are underutilized, because the carriers track a fraction of the total activity reported by convention and visitor bureaus. We must continue to work on building awareness of our meeting programs," adds Romo.
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)5( How low will they go? With the average roundtrip airline ticket in the U.S. hovering around $400, according to the Department of Transportation, published fares can't go much higher without risking a backlash from price-sensitive consumers. Airlines know this; that's why they have used strategies like ancillary fees 015 www.meetingsconventions.com/print.aspx?id=62472 http://www.meetingsconventions.com/print.aspx?id=62472 5/10 Japan Airlines, LAN, TAM, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian, S7, and SriLankan Airlines STAR ALLIANCE - Adria Airways, Aegean Airlines, Air Canada, Air China, Air India, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, Avianca, Brussels Airlines, Copa Airlines, Croatia Airlines, Egyptair, Ethiopian Airlines, EVA Air, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Swiss, TAP, Thai, Turkish Airlines, and United Airlines SKYTEAM - Aeroflot, Aerolineas Argentinas, Aeromexico, Air Europa, Air France, Alitalia, China Airlines, China Eastern, China Southern, Czech Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Garuda Indonesia, Kenya Airways, KLM, Korean Air, Middle Eastern Airlines, Saudia, Tarom, Vietnam Airlines, and Xiamen Airlines
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to bring in additional revenue without appearing to hike prices. With the vast array of search engines and "name your own price" options out there, the airfare market resembles a Turkish bazaar. Attendees might assume they can book their own tickets at prices equal to or even better than the "official" deals offered via the convention organizer. That's a perception airline meetings departments are fighting to combat, in part, by extending discounts through the entire universe of fare categories, down to the bargain-basement level. "When we say you get up to 15 percent off, we do indeed mean that," says Skyteam's Ed Hollo. While the discount varies, the lowest promotional fares would be knocked down by around 2 percent across the board. When it comes to full fares and premium-class travel, "that's where you see the really significant savings," he adds.
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Other airlines are taking a similar approach. "We offer a discount on any published fare, from economy up through business class," says United's Laken. "That is the beauty of it: You just select the type of fare you want, and the website immediately gives you the price." The rules, however, are the same as they would be if attendees were booking their own travel; the cheapest fares are nonrefundable and carry a hefty change fee. Those restrictions might be too onerous for many delegates and the companies paying their way. For more flexibility when it comes to cancellation and rebooking, most of the major airlines also offer the option of zone fares, allowing refunds and name changes. The trade-off: Zone fares are higher than the nonrefundable fares consumers now take for granted. One fairly new player is giving meeting planners another alternative: Southwest Airlines, which despite its status as the largest U.S. carrier by passengers flown, still doesn't assign seats or serve meals. Introduced three years ago, Southwest's meetings program offers discounts for
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)8( 150 or more travelers flying to the same destination, with the level of the fare reduction based on the total number of participants. For the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, which drew 5,000 attendees to its convention in Nashville last June, Southwest gave 15 percent off standard fares and 5 percent off its lowest "Wanna Get Away" leisure fares. While that's in line with other airline programs, Southwest offers big perks for all flyers: No change or cancellation fees, and up to two checked bags free. Plus, meeting-goers get 25 percent extra reward miles. The capacity challenge From the planner's side, fares aren't necessarily the issue, it's getting the confirmed seats on the desired flights. "Airfares are pretty level now," says Marty Hoski, global manager, travel and meetings operations, for the Educational Testing Service in Princeton, N.J. "When you look at what it costs now, you probably paid more money to fly to Florida 25 years ago than you do today." Hoski handles arrangements for roughly 600 meetings a year, ranging in size from fewer than 50 to several hundred participants, and finds that the airline side can be a challenge. In certain markets, "the issue is the capacity," he says, as merged airlines often shift their priorities and de-emphasize certain hubs in favor of others in their combined-route systems. Delta effectively dismantled its hub operation in Memphis, partly due to its proximity to Atlanta, the busiest airport in the world. United scaled back at Cleveland, a former Continental redoubt. Other airlines have come in, but not enough to fill the void. "With the three majors divvying up the country, there is not going to be much choice in some markets," warns Hoski. Tech makes it easier "In the old days, you would call into a call center and get a paper contract; it could take a while," recalls United's Laken. 'Today, we're proud of our back-end productivity and how fast we can respond to RFPs." While the airline industry was one of the earliest adopters of automation, over the past few years the benefits of technology have been fully realized for meeting planners, and recent upgrades have further streamlined the process. "One significant upgrade we've made is the contracting process itself," says Hollo. "Ours takes
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)9( about 10 minutes at most; once the proposal is submitted [by the meeting organizer] to our website and the robots are done looking at it, we can approve the contract in about 30 seconds. We will get the approval pretty much immediately." He notes, however, that there's a 48-hour "incubation period" before carriers can actually put the fares on sale. But with major events, automation only goes so far; most organizers will want a connection with an actual human being. Skyteam's policy, Hollo says, is to send a personal message within the first two days from the team member "who will be with them for the life of the contract." It can be a long life span: Skyteam accepts contracts up to five years in advance. (The cutoff for making arrangements is generally three months in advance.) One advantage of the more sophisticated technology is that it lets organizers track activity. "They have 24/7 access to the report. They can see how many people have booked, where they have booked, when they are arriving," says Hollo. "It also allows them to track how much [fare] revenue is being generated by the event." And more automated systems can help airlines and alliances fine-tune the rewards they give meeting organizers. Skyteam gives a free roundtrip ticket for every 50 delegates booked. Star Alliance awards credits good for future travel on the network, and United rewards planners with a point-based system that gives free tickets or upgrades, depending on the user's preference. But there's more at stake than just getting the best deal for your meeting: It's making sure that the delegates -- and their belongings -- get there in the first place. It used to be that everyone had a story about delivering a speech in a T-shirt and shorts because their luggage was lost. But over the past seven years, airlines have lost 61.3 percent fewer bags as tracking technology improved, according to industry research firm SITA. And despite concerns about dwindling competition, a positive outcome of consolidation is a more reliable system. Flights are more punctual, and fewer people are missing connections, notes Jimmy Romo of the post-merger Delta. "We've invested billions of dollars in improving customer service on the ground and in the air," he says, with new planes and advanced technology to cut down on travel woes.
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)10( CHEAT SHEET: Airline Meeting Fares at a Glance LARGE U.S. CARRIERS AMERICAN The deal: Refundable zone fares for groups of 10 or more people traveling from different locations to the same destination Bonus: None Booking window: 30 to 330 days out; $25 booking fee for phone reservations Contact: aa.com/groups; 800-221-2255 DELTA The deal: Discounted fares on Delta and Delta codeshares, for 10 or more passengers going to the same destination and originating from at least two cities; zone fares available through designated travel agencies Bonus: One travel certificate in T class for every 40 passengers booked Booking window: 3 days to 1 year out Contact: delta.com/meetings; 800-328-2216 SOUTHWEST The deal: Discounts off all fare categories for groups of least 150 people traveling to the same city; rates vary according to size of group and availability Bonus: None currently; under consideration for 2016 Rules: Book through Southwest website or incur a $25 booking fee. Booking window: At least 60 days from meeting start date Contact: Submit proposals via SWABIZ.com; a rep will follow up within 10 day
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)11( The deal: Discounts off published fares for groups of 20 or more, from at least two originating destinations, for attendees and travel companions Bonus: Bookings earn productivity credits that can be redeemed for a range of rewards, such as drink coupons, upgrades and tickets. Organizers receive customized flyers and other promotional support. Booking window: Up to one year in advance Rules: $25 booking fee on tickets booked through United call centers Contact: united.com/meetings; 800-426-1122 GLOBAL AIRLINE ALLIANCES ONEWORLD The deal: For groups of at least 100 attendees, fare discounts on Oneworld network for delegates and one travel companion Bonus: Productivity credit accounts for meeting planners; no booking fees; management reports and activity tracking Booking window: Three months to five years prior to event Contact: oneworld.com/events; expect four-day turnaround on requests SKYTEAM The deal: Discounts of 2% to 15% on network carriers for minimum of 15 attendees and companions originating from at least two different countries outside host nation Bonus: One free roundtrip ticket for every 50 tickets booked; promotional support Booking window: Two months to five years in advance Contact: skyteam.com; globalmeetings@skyteam.com STAR ALLIANCE The deal: Fare discounts for delegates and one companion, via two distinct programs: Meetings Plus, for groups of at least 50 participants from a
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minimum of three countries outside meeting destination; and Conventions Plus, for a minimum of 500 international delegates from three or more countries and two continents Bonus: Credits redeemable for travel on alliance network carriers Booking window: 60-day minimum for Meetings Plus; six months to three years from event date for Conventions Plus; tickets are issued through travel agency designated by organizer Contact: staralliance.com
ادارة العالقات العامة -الشركة القابضة لمصر للطيران