T TG NO R DIC
Travelport Smartpoint
No 363
M arch / April 2017
| March / April 2017
Travel Trade Gazette
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PER G BRAATHEN USUALLY GETS HIS WAY
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VAGN SØRENSEN ON THE FUTURE OF AVIATION
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No363
CONTENT
Alfabetica Travel Agencies Business & Leisure
CONTENT
www.firsthotels.com
INTERVIEW
08
Page 8
Per G Braathen – sole owner of the Swedish
airline BRA
www.cirkusbygningen.dk
www.godominicanrepublic.com
Joint ventures are not to be ignored
Page 18
More entertainment on future flights
Page 20
Former director of SAS, Vagn Sørensen, on
the future of aviation
Page 24
Status Copenhagen Airport
Page 26
Status Arlanda and Gardermoen
www.bcdtravel.se
www.bcdtravel.no
www.bcdtravel.fi
Publications www.udviklingfyn.dk
www.melia.com
Travel Technology
AIRLINE Page 14
www.bcdtravel.dk
www.scandichotels.dk
www.standby.dk www.ttgnordic.com
Insurance
Recruitment Travel Trade
www.france.fr
HVIS REJSER ER DIN PASSION ER BRASILIEN DIN DESTINATION!
www.datacon.dk/travel www.oi-brasil.dk
18
20
LEISURE Page 28
Iran wants tourists DANMARK
BUSINESS TRAVEL
24
28
Page 35
Focus on experiences
Page 36
Hard focus on safety
Page 38
News from the Business Travel Show
Page 40
The robots are coming
www.erv.dk
53 44
38
On tour with the meeting planners
Page 44
Sustainability on the plate
Page 45
Dubai business events
www.visitmalta.com
SVERIGE www.erv.se
www.kellyservices.dk
www.procon.dk
www.spain.info
travelize.com AllaBussresor.se AllaTemaresor.se
www.germany.travel
www.travelmarket.dk
www.unikkemoedesteder.dk
www.travelport.dk www.travelport.se
MICE Page 42
www.centrum-personale.dk
www.spain.info
Tourist Boards - Information www.gouda.dk
MICE
LEISURE Page 46
News from PATA
Page 47
Tourism sector missing analysts
Meetings, Incentives, Conferences & Events/ Exhibitions
www.visitdenmark.com
Absalon Hotel Accor Hotels Alsie Express Air France Arp-Hansen Hotel Group Atlantic Airways Avis Baltic Stand By BCD Travel Billund Lufthavn British Airways Cathay Pacific Airways Celebrity Cruises Centrum Personale A/S Cimber Air Cirkusbygningen Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers Copenhagen Danish Air Transport Destination Fyn Datacon DBTA DFDS Seaways Dominican Republic Europcar Europæiska Reseförsäkringar Europæiske Rejseforsikring Finnair First Hotel France Atout France Gouda Rejseforsikring Hans Christian Andersen Airport Hertz Hurtigruten icelandair Jet Time A/S Kelly KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Meliâ Oi Brasil Procon Solution Qatar Airways Royal Caribbean Cruise Line SAS Scandic Hotels Sixt Small Danish Hotels Spanske turistkontor Stand By Sun Air TAP Portugal Thomas Cook Airlines Travelmarket Travelport Travelize International AB Tysk Turist Information Unikkemoedesteder.dk VisitDenmark VisitGreenland.com Visitmalta
EVENTS & RECRUITMENT page 49
36
35
Is YOUR company missing?
Contact STAND BY on phone: + 45 7025 9700 or e-mail: sales@standby.dk
Stand By is issued six times per year and distributed as paid subscription in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, The Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland to travel agents, tour operators, airline offices tourist agencies, foreign tourist representatives, tourist bus companies, and all of the major industries in Scandinavia. Stand By bears no responsibility for unsolicited editorial material
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21-03-2017 11:21:32
No363
INTRO
Kitt Andersen Editor in Chief
THE PRICE OF AN AIRLINE TICKET IS ONLY GOING ONE WAY – AND IT’S NOT UP “A larger and larger proportion of household purchasing power goes towards experiences with the family. This is stable even in times of recession. The last thing you give up is experiences.” These words are Vagn Sørensen’s. He is a former CEO at SAS and with more than 30 years of industry experience he gives a fascinating interview in this issue (p. 20), sharing his thoughts about the future of aviation – especially at SAS. He believes, among other things, that growth will come from tourism but not necessarily at the companies or constellations we have become used to. But it’s not only the family that focuses on experiences. The same is true for the business traveler but more regarding the comfort on the travel. Travel managers should no longer lose sleep over costs getting out of control but be concerned if the traveler has had a good experience says Simon Ferguson, VP Commercial for Travelport (p. 35).
Copenhagen office: Vester Farimagsgade 2, kontor 1013-1015, DK-1606 Copenhagen V. Tel: +(45) 70 25 97 00 Fax: +(45) 70 25 97 01 standby@standby.dk www.standby.dk Managing director: Stig Thygesen / stig@standby.dk Managing Editor: Kitt Andersen / kitt@standby.dk Senior Editor: Ejvind Olesen / ejv@mail.dk Journalist: Henrik Baumgarten / hb@takeoff.dk
Sales and advertising: Tel: +(45) 70 25 97 00 Fax: +(45) 70 25 97 01 sales@standby.dk Trine Christensen / trine@standby.dk Gitte Nielsen / gitte@standby.dk Layout: Kenneth Nannberg / kenneth@standby.dk Print: Tryknet
Need for new planes While low-cost carriers accounted for 5 per cent of air traffic in 2000, they will account for more than half within a few years. This development is being particularly felt at Boeing and Airbus, which are heading towards some good years. Boeing expects that demand for new aircraft will be around 40,000 over the next 20 years (p. 32). Vagn Sørensen agrees with that evaluation: “There must be new and more efficient aircraft, as this creates lower costs and higher productivity. And the demand is there, so it is likely to happen.” And a focus on costs is vital in the airline industry, where the price of an airline ticket is only going one way. And it’s not up. But who is going to buy and what kind of constellations will we see in the airline industry of the future – this is one of the big open questions that we’ve yet to have answered.
Publisher: Scandinavian Travel Media ApS.
Stockholm Office: Manager Christian Jahn christian@ttgnordic.com tel. +46 70-644 45 45
Vilnius office: English-language editor : Howard Jarvis howard@ttgnordic.com ttgnordic.com
Happy reading!
tlf. +370 79267
CONTACT US CALL US OR WRITE AN EMAIL if you have a good story about airlines, hotels, cruise, car rental, travel agencies, MICE or travel technology you want to share with the industry. Editor in Chief Kitt Andersen, kitt@standby.dk, tel. +45 30 23 91 03 Senoir Editor Ejvind Olesen, ejv@mail.dk, tel. +45 45 86 21 49 Journalist Henrik Baumgarten, hb@takeoff.dk, tel. +45 20 93 28 48 Manager Christian Jahn, christian@ttgnordic.com tel. +46 70-644 45 45Journaiist Howard Jarvis, howard@ttgnordic.com tel. +370 79267
Cover photo: Dennis Erixon / BRA
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F LY T H E N O R D I C WAY
Journalist: Flemming Juul / flemming@juul.dk
A good deal Another exciting personality in this magazine is Per G Braathen (p. 8), the sole owner of the airline BRA, who is also involved in the neighbourhood of 60 other companies. Per G Braathen’s business is constantly changing. He doesn’t buy to keep but in most cases to sell on. His ‘fuel’ is the challenge. Challenges are also what largely controls airlines today. But, unlike Per G Braathen, they have often not sought them out. Some, on the other hand, are far too slow to react and find new ways to make money.
F LY T H E N O R D I C WAY
FLYV DEN KORTE NORDLIGE RUTE KORTE RUTER OG GODE FORBINDELSER PÅ DIN VEJ MELLEM EUROPA OG ASIEN.
Vores nordlige arv har formet den måde, vi tænker på. Vi kender værdien af privatliv og enkelhed. Føl det selv og reserver rejse på finnair.dk
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No363
AROUND THE WORLD
SAVE ON TICKETS AFTER BOOKING The winner of the Business Trael Disrupt Awards 2017 was Fairfly. Participants in the competition are start-ups that are less than three years old. Fairfly has developed an algorithm that looks for better prices on flight tickets after booking, while at the same time taking the company’s travel policy and expenses into consideration. “What’s special about FairFly is that it closes the circuit for the companies. It ensures that the possibilities for saving aren’t overlooked and that benefits can be drawn from the great potential for possible savings,” says Gill Lichtermann, co-founder and chief of sales. The winner at the next annual Business Travel Award 2/21-22 will get a beach at his disposal valued at £8,000. The others in the finale were DataSyrup, ReboundTag, transporters.io and tripcloud.io.
WINE IN THE ROOM A SUITCASE’S BEST FRIEND
A whole bottle is often too much, a single glass sometimes too little. But now there is a solution to this little problem. The American company Plum has developed a device for the hotel room that can contain a bottle of white wine and a bottle of red, both at the correct temperature. The machine measures a glass at a time, registers it on the client’s tab and notifies room service when the bottle is empty.
WORLD’S BEST PASSPORT The 10 highest placed countries in an annual survey of the ‘world’s best passports’ are all in Europe. And Sweden comes top in 2017. The 2017 version of the Nomad Passport Index assesses and ranks passports issued from 199 countries and territories and the ranking includes five factors: How many countries a passport provides access to without a visa, the country of issue’s legislation for international taxation, the perception or image of the country, the possibility of double citizenship and citizens’ personal freedom. After Sweden in the top 10 come Belgium, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Finland, Germany, Denmark, Swit-
zerland and Luxembourg. With regards to Sweden it says among other things that a Swedish passport provides free access to 176 countries, that Sweden and the Swedes have an excellent reputation abroad, that Swedish passport holders are permitted to have dual citizenship, that the country has a high degree of personal freedom and that Swedish citizens “can easily escape Swedish taxation laws by moving abroad”. The ‘worst’ passports to have, according to the study, are from Afghanistan, Iraq and Eritrea. Citizens of these countries can allegedly have visa-free entry to only 25 to 30 countries.
It might not be the complete end of suitcases disappearing after check-in, but it’s close. ReboundTag is a luggage tag that can be used at all airports worldwide. It’s the only one in the world that functions with the help of RFID (Radio Frequence Identification), NFC (Near Field Communication), QR code and a printed number with the purpose of tracking your luggage. ReboundTag can be calculated for airline companies as well as firms and individuals. A single tag costs DKK 225 and then DKK 35 per year. Companies can also put their logo on it.
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No363
INTERVIEW
PASSION FOR Perhaps Per G Braathen is more influenced by his time as a travel guide than his economy exams. He insists it’s all about developing businesses and creating stability, but he has also a soft spot for his zoo, and finds people more interesting than metal constructions.
PER G BRAATHEN • 57 years old • Youngest of three brothers • Started work at an early age, working in a ski shop and delivering flowers • Educated himself to be a travel guide, while his brother Erik went into the airline company • MBA, Schiller University, London • Director of Saga Solreiser for 28 years, owned by Braathens SAFE • Later CEO and chairman of the board for, among others, Always and Tjäreborgs. • Lives in London and has homes in Mallorca and the Alps • Married, three children Free time: Sailing in the Mediterranean, skiing, fell walking
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BUSINESS By Jan Ohlsson Photo: Dennis Erixon / BRA
He is often described as a happy, friendly and funny person who is also serious, clever, hardworking and interested in his employees. And he is known to be a man with a will of iron and someone who usually gets his way. That is something he may have inherited from his grandfather. Buy cheap, sell expensive. That is Per G Braathen’s business philosophy in a nutshell, as he himself puts it with a smile. More formally formulated, it is called business development and profitability, and that’s what he does, constantly. But this billionaire is in no way a snob and has no sentimental ties to the family name, synonymous as it is with a lost Norwegian national legend, the airline company Braathens SAFE. Neither is there any trace of vengeance-seeking. On the contrary. That Per G Braathen today is sole owner of Sweden’s biggest airline BRA is more a coincidence than something he has strived for. He would never buy airline shares as a long-term investment. He doesn’t even like to travel, but usually gives in when his family wants to go somewhere. New planes put on ice He seems also to have a unique talent for making cutting remarks, but when delivered in soft Norwegian, and in a friendly manner, people listen. Even to inconvenient truths, and even when it means challenging the government. “We were well on the way to becoming an environmentally friendly Swedish airline company. Now the government
has ruined that. Have you read their proposed aircraft tax? Not one sensible word in all of it, just rubbish, political advertising for the Miljö (environmental) party, which will result in a worsened environment,” he says, clearly irritated. We are at Stockholm Bromma Airport, just boarding BRA’s very first biofuel flight with an ATR 72-600, a fuel that could give Sweden an industry in aircraft fuel made from forest waste, rather than a counter-productive tax. BRA should have changed its RJ-100s to the Bombardier CS-100 from next year, which would have resulted in a huge reward for the environment and halved the noise from Bromma, which is close to the city. An RJ-100 exudes 2,000 kilos of carbon dioxide per hour, a CS-100 half that. The nitrogen dioxide emissions would be halved. But only a couple of weeks after our conversation, he is back in Stockholm with the decision: BRA is putting the new plane on ice. “The government is not creating the conditions needed for greener flying. As a private investor I can’t afford it,” he says making it sound like a quick and easy decision. The cost would have been a good three billion Swedish kroner, but he will now invest that money somewhere else. Fast decisions Being a leader is more than just numbers. His years as travel guide mean perhaps just as much to him as his economy education, if not more. Especially when it’s about getting people
involved. That is one of his strengths. He is not particularly interested in planes. He leaves that to his handpicked management group, as long as it goes well. The journey with Malmö Aviation and Sverigeflyg on the road to making BRA has been a bumpy one, but that’s not all he has done. He owns
u
BRA A fusion between Malmö Aviation and Sverigeflyg (six regional airline companies that started with Gotlandsflyg and were locally owned), mainly concerned with domestic traffic, with around 12 destinations in Sweden from Stockholm Bromma and consisting of one third Swedish domestic flights with 12 RJ-100s and 12 ATR-72s. BRA/Braathens Aviation via Braathens Regional Airlines also owns around ten SAAB 2000s and one SAAB 340. Flies also charter, a business expected to expand when CS-100s are introduced. Headquarters formerly located in Sturup, but today the company is run from Stockholm. The investment company Braganza is owned privately by Per G Braathen and the family, was founded in 1938 by his grandfather, and today has businesses in four countries. Eighty-five per cent of the business interests are found in Sweden.
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No363
INTERVIEW
around 60 companies and sits on a dozen or more boards. “Strangely enough, we have good years at BRA when others are not doing well, and vice versa. 2016 was a good year for many but catastrophically bad for us. So the management had to go.” The former chief of SAS in Sweden, Anders Ehrling, and a number of his management team were replaced. Among the new leadership there are some who have worked a long time with the company, but they are now under the leadership of Christian Clemens, formerly a chief executive at TUI. Management changes are nothing too dramatic for Per G Braathen. This is not the first. “As a private individual who owns a large structured company with small margins, it is vital to react to downturns quickly, otherwise it can all go wrong really fast,” says Braathen. He is known for making quick decisions. Last summer it was planned to keep the company’s SAAB 2000 for five to ten years. Yet just a few months on they are all gone and the pilots have been retrained. That sort of change usually takes years to work out. “For a sole owner it is particularly important to have a staff of advisors who dare to give their opinions, and discuss them inside out, so that the right decisions are made in the right way.” Plan six months ahead Despite not being around every day due to having his home abroad, Per G Braathen is surprisingly hands on. It
feels as though he can suddenly and unexpectedly turn up at any time. Plus he has his private jet on hand, a biz-jet that is aptly registered LN-PER. But it is not like that. “I know exactly where I have to be every day for the next six months. This gives predictability and peace of mind in my private life. The private jet is not a taxi. It is part of the company and is rented out to others, so that must also be taken into consideration in my planning. I use it mostly when it can give me more time with my family. In winter, however, I have worked from our home in the Alps for a month. I can live and work wherever I have my PC. It’s that simple.”
I know exactly where I have to be every day for the next six months A passion for business but not for aircraft or shipping companies, the family’s original core business? “Heavy investment in the cruise industry has never been a goal. The little zoo I own in Kristiansand is actually fun. Working with people and animals is far more interesting than steel and aluminium constructions. The children enjoy themselves, and at the same time I am pleased to say it is very profitable.” This ‘little zoo’ is Norway’s largest, and one of the most visited attractions
in Norway. That he also owned a large chain of businesses dealing with articles for animals, Arken Zoo, plus a chain of veterinary clinics, is coincidental. Bought cheap, sold expensive. He often restructures and sells to venture companies. And he is seldom in Kristiansand and in fact rarely ever in Norway. There he has put together a management that can look after itself. “We have no properties [in Norway], and all the children have chosen to live in England. I also prefer the business climate in Sweden. It is more predictable and things are well organised, especially when it comes to taxes. In Norway everyone was for a time overtaken by the oil boom that caused so many to become fat and lazy.” That is why Braganza used to hold its management meetings in Sweden. The name Braganza is a little salute to the past, and several of Braathen’s companies have names starting with ‘Bra’ after the farm where his grandfather grew up, and later this came to be part of the name of the company’s ships and businesses. Sofa in the air We sit and talk in the four-person coupé in a BRA ATR 72-600 on the way to Umeå. Two rows of seats face each other at the front and starboard in all BRA’s ATR aircraft. “This gives us two extra seats on every plane,” Per G Braathen explains happily. “Think about that. We have 13 ATRs.” BRA has a complicated corporate construction, a concern of its own.
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No363
INTERVIEW
When Per G Braathen bought the then Braathens Sweden (Malmö Aviation and Transwede) in 2002, the price was one krone. It was one of the conditions by which Norway’s Braathens could be sold to SAS thereby saving 6,000 jobs. SAS would not take over the Swedish Braathens, which was to a large degree responsible for Braathens, at that time led by his older brother Erik, as it was so close to bankruptcy. Per already owned 10 per cent of the Swedish Braathens, so he was in a corner. One of his greatest challenges was to get the high leasing contracts on around 12 RJ-100 aircraft from British Aerospace reduced. It took 15 stubborn rounds of negotiation to bring about a reduction of 30 per cent. He also needed to get the personnel to accept a reduction in pay, with the promise of a profit-sharing scheme in the future. Later, Per G Braathen bought the more than 20 old planes, so now he owns them. “In 2016, I also bought nine new ATR 72-600s which have considerably better environmental capacity, emitting half as much as a Boeing 737-800. It is a private investment of two billion SEK. But in this situation, the government’s suggestion of an aircraft tax will cost us 200 million SEK annually. The passengers will pay half and I pay the other half. So there is no more money to invest in more environmentally friendly jet planes.” Old planes must last longer Across from us in the aircraft sits Anders
Källsson, one of Per’s advisers and a former owner of Golden Air, which Braathen bought. Anders is expert in buying and selling aircraft. How will you get rid of all the SAAB 2000s, which are quickly becoming superfluous? “Before you arrived, I was just about to sell the last ones from BRA to Anders,”
We were well on the way to becoming an environmentally friendly Swedish airline company. Now the government has ruined that. says Per G Braathen happily. “There are several speculators around Europe who wish to lease them. Throughout the years, the airline has shown many different results but has a little plus when the years are added together. We also deal in aircraft and other travel-related things such as Ticket, which had a pretty good year in 2016.” How dependant are you on Bromma airport? “BRA provides 96-98 per cent of Bromma’s profit. Without us, Bromma is nothing, and without Bromma, we are nothing.” It now looks like Bromma will stay until at least 2038? “That’s good enough for me,” Per G Braathen says with a smile. Several years ago, Braathen bought
Sweden’s biggest travel agency, Ticket, and many shook their heads – travel agencies are a thing of the past, they said. But the price was okay. “Ticket had a good year last year. Turnover doubled, and I have already sold a large part of the company. Right now I have freed up capital for new investments.” This, then, is what usually happens, and he is known to buy several companies a week. A great deal of Per’s talent is apparently inherited from his grandfather Ludvig G Braathen, who from the age of 15 wanted to be an entrepreneur. Preferably in lumber. Ludvig G Braathen became a containership owner and visionary, founder of Braathens SAFE intercontinental air travel, before SAS even existed. The grandfather also identified himself with his companies.
CRAZY CHICKEN Malmö Aviation’s mythological griffin in gold, on the tail plane, led to the British calling it Crazy Chicken Airlines, and even though BRA means ‘good’ in Sweden, it means something quite different in England, which continues to cause laughter.
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No363
AIRLINES
AIRLINE CONSOLIDATION IS COMING… … one joint venture at a time.
From left at the CAPA Asia summit: David Bishko, Vice President, Seabury Airline Consulting and Former Managing Director Alliances, Delta Air Lines; June Lee, Assistant Professor, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Asia; John McCulloch, Partner at Seabury Airline Consulting and Alan Tan, Professor of Aviation Law, National University of Singapore.
By Marisa Garcia
During the CAPA Asia Summit in Singapore at the end of last year, David Bishko, vice president of Seabury Consulting, explained that the airline industry has been moving towards consolidation in small steps: from alliances, to joint ventures (JVs), to equity partnerships. “If you compare it to other industries, I think that for most arguments you could say we are in a very competitive industry. The problem of why we’re so competitive is that we are not allowed to consolidate as other industries do,” he said. And he is intimately familiar with this trend. He helped build Delta’s original JV with Air France, later expanded to include Northwest, KLM and Alitalia. Later, working at Air France’s headquarters in Paris, he implemented the JV as managing director EMEA and chief coordinator. He was also a member of SkyTeam’s steering committee, implementing and managing over 20 alliance partnerships. At the CAPA Asia Summit he argued that consolidation is important to ensure financial stability for airlines in a crowded market.
Gaining consensus While regulations restrict outright purchases of carriers based in different countries and evaluate joint ventures on a case-by-case basis, they have generally viewed JVs favourably. But as more airlines form JVs, questions arise over the relevance of alliances forged years ago. “A lot of the carriers within the alliances have complained that they haven’t been developing as much as they’d like to. They’re not offering as much of a customer proposition as they’d like to. They haven’t done as many things. The reason is that it’s really hard to organise a group of different airlines,” Bishko said. He explained that the greatest hurdle is gaining consensus among the CEOs of alliance members with conflicting interests, which slows down progress. JVs create a common goal and common stakes, thereby expediting the process. “All of a sudden, you have these JVs and you have the CEOs talking
more and having their interests more aligned,” he said. “I believe it’s moved the alliances along more, as the JVs are working together.” New conflicts But the presence of JVs in alliances has also created new conflicts. “Those airlines that are not in the JVs frequently feel like they’re sitting at the kids’ table. All the grown-ups are at the big table having their conversations and those that aren’t in the JVs are not part of the conversation,” David Bishop said. “Now we’re seeing carriers having JVs in other alliances and that’s causing some confusion among alliances as well.” As more JVs and equity partnerships are forged, Bishko believes that industry consolidation is only a matter of time. “I couldn’t predict the year – but eventually many of these cross-border rules will go down and then the industry will be consolidating like other industries.”
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No363
AIRLINES
By Henrik Baumgarten
WILLIAM LANDS WITH ATLANTIC The Faroese airline Atlantic Airways has received its new flagship, a brand new Airbus A320, which has been named after the famous Faroese writer William Heinesen. The A320 is the third aircraft in the Atlantic Airways fleet, the other two being Airbus A319s. The new plane can accommodate 168 passengers, 24 more than either of the A319s. Atlantic flies twice a day between the Faroe Islands and Copenhagen during the winter season and up to four times a day in high season. In addition, there are
two flights a week to Billund and two to Aalborg in high season. On a yearly basis, Atlantic Airways operates more than 800 flights between the islands and Denmark. In March, SAS began a year-round daily service between Copenhagen and the Faroe Islands. About the coming
competition, Niels Mortensen, chairman of the board for Atlantic Airways, recently told Stand By: “SAS will be welcome. We have had competition before, including from Maersk Air, but I don’t think SAS can beat us on fares, as we have been lowering them in recent years.”
T
2N
NEW CABINS FOR TAP TAP Portugal will be spending more than half a billion DKK on new cabins for its longhaul A330s. Seven of the aircraft will get the new cabins this year, so that the company will have the same type of cabins as its future A330neo planes. TAP promises more legroom in Economy and Economy Plus, while business class – Executive Class – will have 180-degree flatbeds.
RUSSIAN AIRPORTS AMONG EUROPE’S FINEST
AALBORG HOPES FOR US ROUTE Aalborg Airport may get a new route to the New York and Boston area in 2019. Norwegian’s CEO, Bjørn Kjos, has informed the director of Aalborg Airport, Søren Svendsen, that the airline has Aalborg on its list. Svendsen recently told Stand By that the latest signals from Norwegian indicate a route opening in 2019. “Norwegian were talking about a US route from Aalborg in 2018, but that has now been postponed to 2019. This doesn’t mean too much – what matters is that we are still part of Norwegian’s overseas strategy,” he said. The airline will open several US routes from secondary airports in Scandinavia, among others, to smaller airports such as those in the region around Boston and New York. These can be flown with Norwegian’s upcoming long-haul Boeing B737 Max, which can, for example, reach America’s east coast from Scandinavia. Norwegian has or will have B737 routes to, among others, Stewart International Airport north of New York and Providence Airport south of Boston.
Airports Council International, ACI, has announced its 2016 Airport Service Quality Awards. The prizes, which this year were awarded for the 10th time, are split into categories depending on the airports’ passenger numbers. According to ACI, 600,000 participating passengers in 84 countries were questioned on their day of departure. The passengers were asked about the same 34 areas, such as airport access, check-in, security check, toilet facilities, shops and restaurants. In Europe, Sochi International Airport was best in the category of up to 5 million passengers, Porto landed top for up to 15 million passengers, Vienna peaked among airports with up to 25 million, Moscow Sheremetyevo won for airports up to 40 million annual travellers, while London Heathrow came top among airports with more than 40 million passengers. 16
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fl
med Star Alliance.
TAP will launch new Intercontinental th branded fares starting April 4 2 New Business Branded Fares
• Executive • Top Executive
4 New Economy Branded Fares
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24h, 48h og 72h stay, with no additional airfares.
flytap.com 17
16-17 Airlines_NOTER.indd 17
21-03-2017 11:32:20
No363
AIRLILNES
FUTURE OF FLIGHT IS MORE ENTERTAINING Panasonic Avionics Corperation
By Marisa Garcia
Airlines offer inflight entertainment to make flying less stressful and more comfortable, and while options quickly evolve on the ground, airlines are about to catch up. Seat-back entertainment systems have improved dramatically in recent years, with larger, higher resolution screens for HD entertainment and more advanced interactive menus that make it easier for passengers to choose from a growing range of content. Today, most airlines fill their inflight catalogues with hours of blockbuster films and television programming, as well as audio entertainment, all of which can be enjoyed on demand. Bring your own device On many short-haul flights entertainment has been limited to the inflight magazine and a few newspapers. Today many passengers also bring their own digital entertainment on board, carried on smartphones and tablets. Passenger use of digital devices has
led some airlines, including SAS, to offer content from popular newspapers and magazines, which can be downloaded via the airline app prior to the flight. The growth of personal electronic devices has also helped to promote new wireless inflight entertainment systems. These can range from simple-to-install portable devices to more complex high-capacity servers. The portable system AirFi developed and produced in the Netherlands is now up in the air on airlines around the world including Transavia, Cebu Pacific, Volaris, TUI and Thomas Cook. This small, full-function box is easy for airlines to adopt. It doesn’t require special installation or engineering changes to the aircraft and can be moved from plane to plane as needed. Once on board, the box transmits entertainment to passengers’ devices via a local wireless connection. It can offer a broad catalogue of articles from print publications, movies and television shows and can support features like onboard chats and inflight shopping. Seats designed for devices The appeal of personal electronic
devices is also influencing the design of aircraft seats and seat-back entertainment systems. Power outlets are becoming far more important as a cabin feature and many of the new inflight entertainment screens include USB slots for device charging. But entertainment systems manufacturers are also considering device pairing, looking at ways personal devices and seat-back devices can interact to enhance the passenger experience. Panasonic has designed two versions of an interactive IFE seat system, one for Economy class and another for Business or First class, which can pair with passengers’ devices, play personal content and even recognise passengers so that airlines can offer more personalised services like individual offers and flight notifications. Last year, Panasonic also helped Singapore Airlines develop a new KrisWorld app that lets passengers control their on-board entertainment with their smartphone, view the flight path, get updated flight information, browse details on the movies, television and music content available, and create a viewing list of favourite films or shows.
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This kind of app companion is expected to grow in popularity. Always online The growth of more reliable and affordable internet access on board opens up new possibilities for entertainment including live television, news and sports programming and content streaming. SAS recently announced it would introduce high-speed inflight Wi-Fi on its short and medium-haul fleet, through a partnership between ViaSat and Eutelsat. The airline also plans to use this connectivity to improve cabin services. “As both passengers and crew on board are now connected, we can take our personal service to greater heights while continuing to develop our digital, smart solutions that make life
easier,” Rickard Gustafson, president and CEO of SAS, said at the time of the announcement. The first SAS aircraft to fly with Wi-Fi on board will take off in the second half of this year. Finnair has also announced it will bring ViaSat on board for short and mid-haul flights and has already put WiFi to use for enhanced services on longhaul flights. Paired with inflight Wi-Fi, the Finnair Nordic Sky portal complements seat-back systems on the A350 aircraft model. It lets travellers view additional news articles, shop for exclusive Finnair offers and book destination services like tours or ground transport. End of the seat-back screen? Most in the airline industry believe that passengers want more variety, not fewer entertainment options, and don’t expect screens to disappear any time soon. But the operating costs and weight limitations of certain planes mean that some airlines are leaving screens behind. American Airlines and Norwegian have both announced they will install only wireless systems on their new 737
MAX aircraft, arguing that most of their passengers now fly with their own devices. It’s a trend to watch on narrow-body planes but we can expect long-haul routes to include seat-back systems with device-friendly coupling. Window on the world Some envision turning aircraft windows into interactive screens. Vision Systems has been shortlisted for a Crystal Cabin Innovations Award this year for its proposal of a touch-screen window pane that projects information on landmarks visible below the plane. During dark phases of flight, passengers could use these windows to search for other information and receive news updates. As technology advances, we can expect a more interactive cabin environment with flight updates, advertisements and destination-related images projected on cabin dividers, entryways and galley walls. For those who love the skies flying has never been boring, but it promises to offer much more to help pass the time in the years ahead.
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No363
AIRLINES
GROWTH COMES FROM TOURISM
Former SAS CEO Vagn Sørensen has many years’ experience in aviation. Here he gives his view on what the future holds – for better or for worse. Consolidation and joint ventures are the way forward and there are still good opportunities for growth, especially in the leisure market.
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By Ejvind Olesen
Marriage is in the air in the airline industry, like never before. Marriages of convenience and family reunifications are brewing. All are needed in order for airlines to become stronger in an existence threatened by young new families who practice a completely different lifestyle on the global stage. One of those who has been following developments both at home and abroad for more than 30 years is former SAS CEO Vagn Sørensen. Here, in an exclusive interview, he gives his thoughts on what the future holds. How is it going with SAS and Scandinavian cooperation, and what will the global future of the network carriers be like? Where are the sticking points and how will they be smoothed over? Will Carlzon be proven right after all? Keep an eye on Turkish Airlines We both remember that Jan Carlzon said we would end up with just five airlines in 2025. We already have many more. Where do you think we will be by then? “I don’t think that he literally meant five, but rather five major corporate groups. That guess was not entirely off. For me there is no doubt that Lufthansa Group, Air France/ KLM and IAG (BA) will continue the consolidation of financial strength that has been created over the past four or five years. It’s also obvious that Norwegian will eventually join up with Ryanair or easyJet. One last major ambitious player will be Turkish Airlines, but mostly by its own power. If the spectre of terrorism can be kept from the door, Istanbul has the same potential as a hub as Dubai.” Leisure market is crucial “Who will grow the most depends on who gets the best hold of the leisure market. That is where the growth is to be found. With 25-40 per cent lower unit costs. Like Lufthansa with Eurowings, Air France with Boost, IAG with Vueling, Air Canada with Rouge, just to name a few. A larger and larger proportion of household purchasing power goes towards experiences with the family. This is stable even in times of recession. The last thing you give up is experiences.”
We cannot avoid getting into your old company SAS, which is setting up a base in Ireland and will have locally staffed flights from London and Malaga. Is this the way forward for survival? “It is a necessary step in order to get a share of the growth in the leisure market. A pure Scandinavian cost structure cannot compete in this market. I think it will be difficult for SAS and it will take a long time before this can be positively reflected in the financial statements, as it is a small part of the total business and it must be built up first. But there is no way around it. The old network carriers take care of the business traffic and the new the leisure traffic. The good news for the unions is that the one will not be at the expense of the other. I have no comments specifically
SAS still has to become as attractive as possible about Cimber, but I think the solution is specialised subcontractors, which have a different flexibility. They are not burdened by the unit costs of a large carrier. In this way you also transform fixed costs into variable ones and spread the risk.” Multiple marriages and volume There are marriages of convenience, engagements, alliances, codeshares and joint ventures in global aviation today. Most exciting is joint ventures, where you end up sharing the bottom line. You helped create the agreement between Lufthansa and SAS, which is popularly said to go from the Alps to the North Calotte. Why do you think there has not been anything serious with anyone else after the break with Lufthansa? Most recently between SAS and Singapore Airlines, which is a pale reflection of the joint ventures of other companies? “I cannot comment on why joint ventures have not caught on in Scandinavia, but I am a big supporter of joint ventures in aviation because it gives customers more and more flexible travel options. It is also good for companies
that might start with a revenue joint venture but later enter into a profit joint venture, which really provides incentives to optimise. But this requires volume and it has to mean something for both companies. That’s why the SAS-Lufthansa joint venture in Scandinavia-Germany was so successful over many years.” Preconditions for Ryanair and easyJet Another form of cooperation is Open Skies, where much can happen in the near future within the EU, in Trump’s United States and in the Middle East. Was it a mistake to open up so much to the competition? It might appear that we are once again heading for divorce? “Open Skies was rightly conceived and with Europe it has been enormously conducive for aviation. It was the entire foundation for low-cost airlines like Ryanair and easyJet. Aviation is in itself a strong growth generator. Through the infrastructure that it offers, liberalisation will continue. However, there is still a very long way to go. State aid, concealed or open, must, as in all other industries, be done away with. Then there are also restrictions on who can own an airline. In the US, foreign investors may own no more than 25 per cent. It is a form of protectionism that limits consolidation globally. In the EU, countries outside the union can own up to 49 per cent. With what is happening politically in the United States at the moment, I see no immediate change in the near future.” The sale of SAS has begun. Denmark has 14.3 per cent, Norway 11.5 per cent, Sweden 17.2 per cent. In addition, the majority group Wallenberg in Sweden has 7.5 per cent. Is it only a matter of time before the Scandinavian countries are no longer part of it? “State ownership of SAS has had no influence for many years and is neutral at best. But it has in fact delayed the reconstruction of the company and shifted attention to political issues rather than economic and strategic. Because the states may have no influence on the operation of SAS, it has not been a particularly good market investment. As SAS has always had Copenhagen
u
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u
No363
AIRLINES
as its primary hub for most nonstop flights, the best infrastructure has nothing to do with ownership. It is only an expression of network logic and traffic flows and how best to and most economically participate in these. This would not change if the state departed.” SAS must be more attractive Will SAS get engaged again and later be sold? Chairman Fritz Schur said in a mixture of fun and seriousness that for someone to fall in love with you, you have to be attractive. “I totally agree. 2015 and 2016 were good years for aviation with high demand, good development and low fuel prices. When you only generate a marginal profit in such years, it’s not good enough. Of course, the management at SAS knows this, even though the company has had impressive growth under Rickard Gustafsson during this period. But the problem is that the size is lacking, and with this deficiency SAS does not have access to low enough costs. SAS currently lacks the economies of scale that others have. They must and will someday go through a consolidation. Until that hap-
pens, you create the best shareholder value through further streamlining, including through the outsourcing that is now taking place. This is the case if SAS is to continue to be as attractive as possible.” Lufthansa will soon own half of Europe’s airlines. Are there no more competition regulations in the EU? Would Lufthansa be allowed to buy SAS today? “Yes, I think that Lufthansa would theoretically be allowed to buy SAS, but the competition authorities may impose certain concessions. Particularly on routes where only these two currently operate flights. However, there are many precedents where this has been resolved. Compared to many other industries, aviation is very fragmented. This is a problem and therefore the competition authorities should help ensure that such a necessary consolidation can take place. Not just when one of the companies is in financial trouble.” You live in London. If Brexit becomes a reality. What then? “It may have consequences for British aviation. Keep in mind that companies like Ryanair and easyJet fly on EU licenses, which in the EU are based on Open Skies.
Alice Sloth
Outside they benefit from the EU’s bargaining power. So they will have to create several new bases on the continent in order to maintain flexibility. Routes to and from the UK must therefore be based on entirely new agreements, which will be less flexible. The spectrum of routes to and from the UK could easily be smaller than it is today.”
The last thing you give up is experiences Aircraft manufacturers are predicting tremendous growth and many more aircraft in 2025. Is this wishful thinking or likely? “They almost have to say that... but in general their forecasts are not that much higher than IATA’s. New and more effective flights are needed in order to create lower costs and higher productivity. And the demand is there, so it is likely to happen. The question is only whether a lot of new capacity will lead to further price wars or whether the industry is disciplined.”
Jette Nørskov
Skyhøj service direkte fra Jylland Når tiden er vigtig - flyv direkte fra Jylland til Bergen, Düsseldorf, Gøteborg, London City, Manchester, München, Oslo og Stockholm City. Oplev en komfortabel rejse og nyd vores inflight service. For yderligere information kontakt: Alice Sloth Key Account Manager Mobil: +45 6155 8630
Jette Nørskov Key Account Manager Mobil: +45 2926 2359
ba.com
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VAGN SØRENSEN He began his career as a trainee for SAS in Copenhagen in 1984 and later had executive positions as a director of SAS Denmark and Executive Vice President at the SAS headquarters in Stockholm and as CEO of Austrian Airlines in Vienna. Later he chose the board member route, including in Sterling, as Vice Chairman of Spanair and Chairman of the Board for British Midland as well as board member for Lufthansa Cargo and Air Canada. For a period in 2004 he was Chairman of the AEA, the Association of European Airlines, and a member of IATA’s highest body, the Board of Governors. He lives in London with his family and has accumulated scores of directorships.
SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS Den bedste vej til det sydlige Afrika.
flysaa.com
South African Airways tilbyder 28 ugentlige afgange fra København og Billund via vores gateways i Frankfurt, München og London til Johannesburg, med smidige forbindelser videre i Sydafrika samt til bl.a. Mozambique og Zambia.
SAWUBONA – WELCOME ON BOARD!
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21-03-2017 11:36:13
No363
AIRLINES
BIGGEST AIRLINES AT COPENHAGEN AIRPORT The airport’s 20 biggest companies carried 25.3 million of the total 29 million passengers last year. The four low-cost carriers among the 20 flew with 20 per cent of the travellers. By Henrik Baumgarten
Ryanair saw the greatest increase at Copenhagen Airport last year – a massive 168 per cent rise compared to its debut year of 2015, to 1.9 million passengers last year. It moves into third place, surpassed only by SAS and Norwegian, according to figures provided by the airport to Stand By. Of the airport’s 2.4 million additional passengers last year compared to 2015, Ryanair and Norwegian delivered two out of every three. The 20 largest airlines last year carried 25.3 million, or 87.2 per cent, of the total 29 million passengers. Dropping out of the top 20 from last year are Brussels Airlines and the charter airline TUIFly. Instead, Qatar Airways makes it onto the list for the first time, while Thai Airways returns after a year’s absence. The list’s four low-cost carriers, Norwegian, Ryanair, easyJet and Vueling, added up 8.8 million of the 29 million passengers, giving them a market share of 30.5 per cent. The three largest percentage advances from 2015 to 2016 came after Ryanair, from Qatar Airways, Danish Air Transport and Emirates, rising 37, 30 and 20 per cent, respectively. Only the top five airlines last year had more than 2 per cent of the airport’s total passengers.
20 BIGGEST AT COPENHAGEN AIRPORT IN 2016 RANKING AIRLINE IN 2016 1
RANKING IN 2015
SAS
PASSENGERS IN 2016
PASSENGERS IN 2015
1
10.568.477
10.287.224
5.020.802
4.534.650
2
Norwegian
2
3
Ryanair
4
1.917.727
4
easyJet
3
1.578.943
5
Lufthansa
5
650.850
PERCENTAGE P ASSENGERS CHANGE S HARE AT CPH
715.251 1.530.569
2.7 %
36.4 %
10.1 %
17.3 %
168.1 %
6.6 %
3.2 %
5.4 %
603.951
7.8 %
2.2 %
6
KLM
7
545.437
515.993
5.7 %
7
Air Berlin
8
509.018
482.982
1.8 %
11
479.301
368.684
30 %
6
476.578
519.775
- 8.3 %
10
387.740
378.553
2.4 %
9
376.254
387.771
-3%
363.150
338.353
7.3 %
354.384
337.354
5%
8
Danish Air Transport
9
British Airways
10
Finnair
11
Air France
12 Thomas Cook Airlines Scandinavia 13 13
Icelandair
14
14
Vueling
17
345.476
293.258
17.8 %
15
Turkish Airlines
12
326.644
338.830
- 3.6 %
16
Austrian
16
320.524
309.816
3.5 %
17
Emirates
18
312.688
259,630
20.4 %
18
Qatar Airways
287.032
209.537
19
Swiss
15
286.628
324.234
20
Thai Airways
235.029
230.513
37 % - 11.6 % 2%
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SAS COMPLAINS ABOUT AIRPORT SAS and the International Air Transport Association are complaining to the Danish Transport Authority over Copenhagen Airport’s price levels. SAS, along with other IATA airlines, is demanding the return of 2.5 billion kr. in excess fees they believe they have paid and will pay in 2015-19, the period of the current tariff agreement between airlines and airport. “We have a case. We need to find cost savings and it is important that the airport contributes to these, but they are rejecting all proposals,” says SAS. SAS believes that the conditions at Copenhagen Airport have changed “enormously” since the tariff agreement
SAS is unhappy with the charges at Copenhagen Airport, where the company is the largest customer. Last year SAS had 10.5 million passengers at the airport which means that one out of three is traveling with SAS.
entered into force, yet the investments have not kept pace. Mariam Skovfoged, head of media relations for SAS in Denmark, told Stand By, “SAS has a lot of competition and there is a lot of pressure on pricing.
We pay two to three times as much to Copenhagen Airport as we do in Stockholm and Oslo.” Copenhagen Airport maintains that it is not too expensive, “relative to comparable airports in Europe.” HB
MORE HOTELS If everything goes to plan, there will be four new hotels with a total of 1,500 rooms close to Copenhagen Airport in the coming years. The biggest of these, a Comfort Hotel, will be erected by Norwegian Choice Hotels practically next door to the building that houses the current Hilton Copenhagen Airport. The airport’s Hotel 2 for around 730 million kr. will have 500 rooms and will be ready in 2020. As part of the deal with the airport concerning Hotel 2, Choice surprisingly also got the right to operate the building that currently houses the 5-star Hilton Copenhagen Airport. Already on April 1, the 382-room hotel will be renamed the Clarion Hotel Copenhagen Airport. There are plans for a further three hotels
close to the airport, the pension fund PFA and the construction company Skanska confirmed to Stand By. The PFA has plans for two hotels, one with 300 rooms next to the Kastrup metro station, the stop before the airport, as well as one on Hedegaardsvej near the Femøren metro station. The PFA has not disclosed how many rooms the potential Hedegaardsvej hotel will have. In addition, Skanska is considering a hotel near the National Aquarium Denmark, Den Blå Planet, with approximately 300 rooms. Today, in addition to the Hilton Copenhagen Airport, there are two hotels near the airport, both 4-star, the Park Inn by Radisson Copenhagen Airport and the Quality Airport Dan Hotel Copenhagen. HB
Drawing of the upcoming Hotel 2 at Copenhagen Airport - it is a Comfort Hotel with 500 rooms and a large conference center. It is expected to be ready by 2020 at a cost of approximately 730 million.
In March this year the Adventure Lounge in Pier C opened with room for around 200 seated guests - first customer among the airlines is British Airways. On average all airport lounges have around 5,000 visitors a day.
MORE LOUNGES While Copenhagen Airport currently has five lounges, two more will be added this year. This spring, the airport will get a new lounge in the non-Schengen area. Behind the lounge is the handling company Menzies Aviation. The Adventure Lounge, at 850 m2, will accommodate up to 200 guests in Pier C. Turkey’s TAV will open a small lounge on the second floor of Pier D in the non-Schengen area this fall. It will be about 160 m2 and have around 60 seats. The airport already has these lounges: Aspire Lounge, Aviator Lounge, CPH Apartment (the airport’s own lounge, run by the handling company Aviator), SAS Gold Lounge and SAS Lounge, the largest in the airport. HB 25
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No363
AIRLINES
NO POT OF GOLD AT THE END OF THE RAINBOW Text & photo: Jan Ohlsson
Copenhagen is clearly in first place with 30 million passengers, while Gardemoen and Arlanda are competing for the silver spoon, achieving, respectively, 26 and 25 million. Arlanda has an ambition to be the biggest in the Nordics. If it can get US preclearance before Oslo, as well as become Norwegian’s Asian hub, that ambition could become reality. Oslo also has an airport tax against it, and large domestic traffic with only a few intercontinental routes. However, the lucrative value of preclearance has declined with the uncertainty of Trump’s entry ban and decreasing interest in travel to the USA. That has prompted Norwegian to press ahead with its Asia plans. But it has to fly across Russia, which the Russians allow only from Norway. Norwegian doesn’t have the time to wait for help from the Swedes, and there may not be a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow – perhaps only an empty bucket to be filled with taxes. The threat of an aircraft tax is holding back domestic traffic, which has not increased in 15 years, and there is a risk that SAS will
transfer its long-haul routes there from Copenhagen. Copenhagen has the disadvantage of higher charges than Oslo. Competition for short routes But Norway could have an advantage. Widerøe, which has 41 propeller aircraft, is now making an entry with up to 15 new Embraer 190E2s, the first customer with this aircraft type. With 114 seats, it can now begin to compete with SAS and Norwegian on the slightly longer routes, and foreign ones too. It is also getting competition from the stubborn mosquito FlyViking, which will join Widerøe’s short routes with a Bombardier Q-200. Oslo Gardemoen has received a boost. In Sweden there is the threat of some smaller airports being closed, especially in the north. Something new, though, is the introduction of remote traffic control at, among others, Örnsköldsvik and soon Linköping. More are to follow and will all be controlled from Sundsvall. Sweden doesn’t have a strategy Whereas Denmark and Norway have an offensive strategy for the future, Sweden doesn’t have a transport minister but
a strategy of dwindling flights to achieve a greener environment. Bromma is to continue until 2038, but the decision for a fourth runway at Arlanda is nowhere to be seen in the plans before 2040. Gardamoen will reach its limit of 90 flights per hour in 2030, and it is recognised that by that time a third runway will be necessary, and that decision must be made now. Arlanda has at the moment 88 flights per hour and Swedavia hopes for an increase to 100 per hour on the existing runways. Today, for example, Runway 3 is only using 19 per cent of its capacity, though during rush hour everything is in use. If Ryanair decides on a primary airport and leaves Skavsta, that will also affect the figures. Swedavia is to invest SEK 130 million in a terminal building at Kiruna Airport, which may include a railway connection to Norway. Despite everything, the Swedish airport operator showed record profits of SEK 717 million with an increased passenger count of 5.2 per cent in Sweden. SEK 241 million was apparently a one-off amount from the sale of property from the closed Säve in Gothenburg.
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26-27 Airlines Gardemon.indd 26
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No363
ADVERTORIAL
MORE CHOICES AND EASY TICKETING WITH HAHN AIR Imagine a customer at a travel agency wanting to embark on a trip around the world. To do this, he will probably need to take many different flights, flying with local airlines across different continents. This may pose a challenge for travel agents! While they can find and book available flights in the GDS, they could face difficulties issuing the tickets as many of these airlines may not be connected to their local payment system (BSP). Many local airlines are not even participating in the GDS and therefore, their flight schedules, routes and prices are not visible. Hahn Air solves this problem with its “winwin-win” solution for travel agents, airlines and customers. Being the leading ticketing expert, over 100,000 agencies in 190 markets and more than 300 air, rail and shuttle partners trust in Hahn Air’s services. SIMPLICITY IS KEY If travel agents cannot issue a ticket of an airline after completing a booking, they can simply select Hahn Air as the validating carrier and issue the flight on a Hahn Air HR-169 ticket. Why? Because Hahn Air is an IATA airline with an unparalleled network of more than 300 air, rail and shuttle partners. It has been specialising in distribution services for other airlines since 1999 and enables its partner carriers to make their flights available to travel agents via its leading ticketing database.
AN UNPARALLELED NETWORK In addition, with its product H1-Air, travel agents can connect with airlines that would normally not be available in the GDS at all. Under the Hahn Air Systems code H1, travel agents can find the services of 65 airlines that typically do not have a GDS contract of their own. They can simply be issued on the HR-169 ticket as well. This year, the Danish airline Primera Air joined the H1-Air network. “Primera Air, our first Scandinavian partner under the H1 code, is a dynamic company with a great product. We are happy to make it available to travel agents around the world”, says Phil Collings, Director Global Account Management at Hahn Air. RAIL & SHUTTLE CONNECTIONS Sometimes, it might be even more convenient for a passenger to take a rail or shuttle connection. Why not choose a ferry-shuttle for the route from Helsinki to Tallinn with Hahn Air’s latest ferry partner Tallink or a train for the route from Rome to Naples with NTV? With the product 5W-Rail&Shuttle, Hahn Air brings the content of ground transportation companies and ferries to the airline display of the GDS. Tickets can be booked and issued just as easy as any flight. Carriers can be found under the Hahn Air Systems code 5W. Since February, another rail-partner, Eurostar, is available under its own code 9F on the HR-169 ticket.
FULL-SERVICE SUPPORT Travel agents today face a lot of complexity when booking a ticket. Whether it is an issue with the GDS or a question about the airline’s services, the Hahn Air Global Service Desk offers support for all ticketing enquiries 24 hours a day, seven days a week at service@hahnair.com. FREE INSOLVENCY INSURANCE Once the customer has his HR-169 ticket, he can rest assured that if one of the carriers becomes insolvent, he will get his money for the unused part of the ticket back. This is thanks to Hahn Air’s complimentary ticket insurance. Since the introduction of Securtix® in 2010, over 27 Million passengers have enjoyed the security of Hahn Air’s insolvency insurance. A HAPPY CUSTOMER - WITH HAHN AIR In the end, the client will enjoy the trip of a lifetime. He might not even be aware that his journey is facilitated with Hahn Air’s tickets – just like many of the millions of passengers that travel with an HR-169 document between 4,000 airports each year. “We are strictly a B2B company and do not target travellers directly”, says Phil Collings. “However, for Hahn Air’s travel agent partners, we hope that our services make all the difference in the world.”
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26-27 Airlines Gardemon.indd 27
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No363
LEISURE
IRAN WANTS MORE TOURISTS By Stig Thygesen
Tourism has many great opportunities for growth in Iran. But this is dependent on the continuation of reforms – and on traffic around the country becoming much better. That was not the expectation I had, on my first visit to Iran. Snow. But the view from Parsian Azadi Hotel in Teheran of snow-covered mountain peaks on that morning in November was impressive. And yet it was not unusual. Iran’s climate ranges widely from bone-dry desert to subtropical regions, and by the Caspian Sea to the south there are plains that rarely experience any frost. In the west towards the mountains, winter can be hard with huge amounts of snow, while towards the south by the Persian Gulf you will experience mild winters and warm summers. Speaking of snow – in February this year it was 45 years since Iran experi-
enced the world’s worst blizzard. Snow of between three to eight metres fell in the week between February 3 and 8, 1972, in the western part of Asia, and around 4,000 people perished. Sanctions easing Iran was, on January 16, able to celebrate the first anniversary of ‘Implementation Day’, where the most important parts of the EU’s and UN’s sanctions were eased, while the USA in part eased its sanctions. That has led to optimism with regard to all the possibilities for exports to Iran, but to some degree this has been replaced by deadlock due to unclear statements in American foreign policy. Iran has also fanned the flames itself, conducting missile tests contrary to its agreements with the international community. Novo Nordisk entered an agreement already at the end of 2015 to invest €70 million over five years in a factory in Iran
for the production of insulin, given that 4 million Iranians suffer from diabetes. Tourism in Iran A visit to Iran is absolutely recommended. You can experience an exciting sense of history in the making and the Iranians have great expectations for solid growth in tourism from the current level of six million tourists a year to a planned 20 million in 2025. But there are limited possibilities for accommodation and a lack of approximately 100 hotels. Investors and large hotel chains are interested, but combating bureaucracy and economic restrictions against private investors are causing the projects to stall. Mahan Air has seen opportunities in the rising tide of tourism, opening its first route between Copenhagen and Imam Khomeini International Airport in Teheran on June 9, with two weekly departures. In autumn 2016, that was cut to just one weekly departure because
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Two things are necessary in order to visit Iran: a visa, which is available at the embassy, and for women a scarf to cover their hair. A tourist visa can also be bought at the airport, but it is recommended you get it in advance to save time.
A TRIP TO IRAN • Time of flight, 5.10/5.45 (west) • Imam Khomeini International Airport sees more than five million passengers a year. • There are 80 million inhabitants in Iran, of whom around 18 million live in Teheran. the airline, for political reasons among other things, has had difficulties in putting agreements in place concerning sales and the handling of cargo. The sale of cargo capacity as a rule has great importance for the economy for each individual flight route. The service on board, aside from the possibility of getting wine, beer and other alcoholic drinks, fully meets the standards of European companies despite the planes themselves being a little old. Employees speak English fluently, making it easy to communicate, confirming that Iranians are very forthcoming with a distinctive sense of personal service. From June 8, the number of weekly flights will increase to three – Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. That provides for a better opportunity to make use of the flight connections Mahan Air has to, for example, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok. The airport in Teheran works well for transfers and offers an excellent lounge. Western carriers do not yet have any
direct routes from Scandinavia, but Austrian, Lufthansa, KLM and British Airways among others use the airport in Teheran. Teheran’s jewel Teheran is clearly a very busy city and you should count on spending 70 per cent of your time on transportation. A detour on a business trip should therefore be planned in detail. There are many fine historical attractions and the Iranians are especially proud of their National Jewellery Museum, which draws most tourists and where beautiful and expensive jewels, such as a 182 karat pink diamond, are on display. Iran has received many of them as gifts from heads of state. From more recent historical interest, it is possible to visit the American embassy that was occupied by Islamic militant students from 1979 to 1981. Today the building is used as a museum. But what is hard to find in Teheran is fresh air. The city is one of the most polluted in the world, with cheap petrol, u
• The most important source of income is oil. • If you have been in Israel, it will be difficult to get a visa to Iran. • When photographing, pay attention not to include public buildings. And avoid photos in the plane where other passengers (read guards) are captured in the picture by accident. • Among the most discussed news was Iran Air’s order of 80 planes from Boeing at a value of $16.6 billion, where Boeing speaks about it creating 100,000 jobs in the USA. So there is something at stake if the Senate, now under the Republicans’ and Trump’s governance, has to make a final approval of the deal.
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too many cars and poor infrastructure in spite of the metro and bus lanes. Cafés and azure skies We found an entirely different world in Isfahan, which takes about an hour to fly to from Teheran. There the buildings are well maintained, there are green trees placed along the roads and boulevards, and the small cafés with outdoor seating resemble European holiday destinations. The azure skies and windless weather are sure to complete that impression. Isfahan is one of the cities in Iran with the most historical references. It is the country’s third-biggest and dates back 2,700 years. It has been recognised for its diverse works of art – carpets in all kinds of colours made of silk, wool or cotton by nomads or city-dwellers, filigree of silver and meticulously decorated boxes of camel bone. A ‘must-see’ is Naghsh-e Jahan Square, or Imam Square, built in the 17th century. At 160x560 metres, it was at the time one of the largest public open spaces in the world. What catches the eye here is the mountains in the background and the beige tiles on the mosques, so well-balanced against the blue sky.
On the square stands the Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque with its beige dome, a work of art from Islamic architecture. It is special not only because it was built for use by women and is therefore without a minaret. The dome’s colours in beige and pink, the meticulous geometrical patters and fine calligraphy invite quiet contemplation and searching within the fine richness of details. Around the square run the bazaar’s endless streets, where you can explore works of art, drink tea or coffee in quiet oases and meet Iranians, who in a forthcoming and interesting manner addressed themselves to us to hear where we were from and what we thought of the country. Iranian visas – and the next trip What if you, as a Scandinavian, would like to travel to the USA after a visit to Iran? In February, the former Manchester United football player Dwight Yorke was prevented from travelling to the USA because of a stamp in his passport from Iran after participating in a charity match there in 2015. The Comet Consular Service explains that with the new initiatives in the USA, which intend to limit access
from seven specific countries, ESTA registration is not sufficient if you have paid a visit to any of those countries. You cannot get around having to apply for a visa for entry to the USA, which is presumably going to take more time than before (probably up to two to three months) due to the number of applications and demands from the Trump administration for ‘extreme vetting’. Nor can it be recommended to merely change to a new passport, given that no one can know what information the USA is able to dig up concerning our travel patterns. Denmark’s ministry of foreign affairs recommends downloading its app UM Rejseklar, which provides for the possibility of registering yourself on the Danskerlisten (List of Danes), the ministry’s recommendation for Danes staying abroad for the purpose of contact in case of emergencies.
Stand By was invited to Iran by Mahan Air. At the deadline for the magazine there was doubt if Mahan Air will continue its flight from Copenhagen to Teheran.
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No363
LEISURE
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HUSK REJSEFORSIKRINGEN
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– OG VÆR TRYG PÅ STORBYFERIEN
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No363
AIRLINES
LOW PRICES FUEL DEVELOPMENT By Jan Ohlsson
Despite terrorism and weaker economic growth, Boeing still expects continued high demand for new aircraft. The reasons are many and the geographic differences significant. Growth in demand for new aircraft is being driven by countries with rapid economic development, such as China, Vietnam and Indonesia, but also by low-cost airlines, which in Europe in the year 2000 accounted for 5 per cent of air traffic and which in a few years will account for more than 50 per cent. “It’s also the low-cost airlines that keep the demand for mid-range planes so high,” Shauna Basset, regional director market analysis at Boeing in Seattle, tells TTG Nordic. Every year, Boeing makes a new global 20-year prognosis, something it has been doing since 1961. It takes years to alter the manufacturer’s production, so it is necessary to have a fairly accurate tool. “We expect a demand of approximately 40,000 new jets over the next 20 years. The majority of these, around 70 per cent, will be with a single aisle. Twenty-three per cent will be wide-body aircraft, but the largest models, such as the Boeing 747 and Airbus A380, will account for just 1 per cent of these.” She adds: “The smaller wide-body models, such as the Dreamliner, have the most rapid growth, the reason being that more and more want to fly non-stop and that new markets, where long-haul has
not been done before, are developing. The small jets, regional jets, will account for only 6 per cent of the new aircraft.” Non-stop across the Atlantic Are these studies not merely wishful thinking? “No. Until now, all our prognoses have underestimated the demand. In reality, the number of orders has always been at least 10 per cent higher than predicted.” Asia takes 40 per cent of all new planes, while North America and Europe each take 20 per cent and Africa, a relatively young and growing market, takes just 3 per cent. The Middle East takes 19 per cent of all wide-body aircraft. Currently, Boeing has in total received orders for 13,500 Boeing 737s, which makes it the world’s most sold jet, albeit with the Airbus A320 snapping at its heels. Norwegian gets the Europe’s first MAX this year, 20 per cent more fuel-efficient than the 1998 model. Moreover, the reach is increased, and the concept of midrange and long-haul planes will no longer be relevant, as the MAX can cross the Atlantic non-stop and with a full cargo. Mid-range planes go long-haul Boeing has to stay alert, however. The new Airbus A321neoLR can fly an hour longer and has begun to replace more and more Boeing 757s, which Boeing has never found a replacement for. Norwegian has ordered 30 of them and Air Lingus is replacing its 757s with
A321neoLRs. Also, the new favourite of the low-cost carriers, Wizz Air, has ordered 100, without LR, and Ryanair is grumbling about the 737 MAX being too small. Norwegian points to the MAX being much longer than the Dreamliner, which results in lower costs. A MAX has four cabin crew, whereas the Dreamliner has a minimum of eight. One of the big players looking into this right now is Emirates. Why buy new when you can keep the old ones? “The environment is a good reason. MAX reduces the carbon dioxide emission by 14 per cent and has a 50 per cent lower nitrogen oxide emission than what the rules allow for.”
BOEING FACTORY IN EUROPE Boeing will invest 20 million pounds in its first component factory in Europe, mainly for the 737 and 777. Component production has previously been outsourced to an increasing number of suppliers, primarily in the US but also in Japan, something that is believed to have contributed to the extensive and expensive problems with the Dreamliner. Now Boeing wants better control over production and costs and by placing the factory in Sheffield, UK, it is presumably hoping for a good trade agreement after Brexit.
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UNITED’S NEW BUSINESS CLASS At the Business Travel Show in London in February, United served champagne, canapés and the chance to try out its new Polaris business class. The class started with United’s 777-300ER but will also be offered on its 787-10 Dreamliners, Airbus A350-1000s and Boeing 767-300s and Boeing 777-200s.
By Henrik Baumgarten
The American Star Alliance member recently introduced its new business class United Polaris on its long-distance routes.
and sheets and pillows from Saks Fifth Avenue. On United’s Boeing 777-300ER (Extended Range) planes there’s also a bar for business-class fliers.
In United Airlines’ Polaris business class, passengers get their food faster so they have more time to work, relax or sleep. In the new business class, all travellers can sleep in a 180-degree flat bed and all seats have direct access to the centre aisle. Passengers’ ‘personal area’ around the seat contains excellent working possibilities, room to stash hand luggage, variable lighting, a large TV screen, quilt,
New lounges The airline also recently opened new business-class lounges in airports such as Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York/Newark, San Francisco and Washington DC – and overseas in Hong Kong, London Heathrow and Tokyo Narita. Each includes an expansive buffet, a rest area and the chance to take a shower. United, which took over Continental
Airlines some years ago, claims to fly to 330 airports in over 50 countries. Among its latest destinations are routes from the USA to Xi’an and Hangzhou in China, from Newark to Newcastle and Athens, from Washington to Lisbon and Barcelona, and from San Francisco to Auckland, New Zealand’s biggest city. United has what is at the moment the fourth longest route in the world, between San Francisco and Singapore, served with a Boeing 787-9, with a block time (from gate to gate) of over 16 hours.
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No363
AIRLINES
By Henrik Baumgarten
DELIVERY RECORD AT AIRBUS Airbus handed over the keys to 688 new aircraft last year. The manufacturer received 731 orders for new planes last year and still has orders for 6,874 aircraft to be fulfilled in the coming years. Boeing, by comparison, delivered 748 new aircraft in 2016. For the 14th year in a row, Airbus delivered a record number of airliners, amounting to 688 planes for 82 customers. This was an increase of 8 per cent compared to 2015. The 688 total was comprised of 545 from the A320 family, including 68 A320neo, 66 A330, 49 A350 XWB and 28 A380. Over 40 per cent of the planes with only one aisle consisted of the larger A321. Last year, Airbus delivered its 10,000th airliner, an A350 XWB. Boeing, its main competitor, delivered 748 new aircraft including 490 B737s, 137 B787s and 99 B777s. Last year, it received orders for 668 new airliners – and has orders for 5,715 outstanding, 4,452 of which are from the B737 family.
RYANAIR NOW EUROPE’S BIGGEST
FINNAIR EXPANDS IN DENMARK Oneworld member Finnair is expanding in Copenhagen and Billund. Copenhagen will once again have morning departures to Helsinki, while Billund will operate with larger aircraft between June and August. “Things are going well for Finnair in Scandinavia. We have expanded in Sweden and now it is Denmark’s turn. Copenhagen and Billund will have increased capacity. Danish travellers are requesting our routes to Asia, where we will soon unveil new destinations.” This was reported to Stand By by Robert Lönnblad, the general manager for Finnair in Scandinavia who recently replaced Robert Öhrnberg, the country manager in Denmark who is now the company’s general manager for the Chinese market. From mid-May, Finnair will increase its capacity by more than 20 per cent with a new daily morning flight from Copenhagen to Helsinki on weekdays throughout the year. Finnair is also expanding its year-round service between Helsinki and Billund between June and August this year. This will be achieved by inserting a larger Airbus A319 instead of the current, smaller Embraer 190. It will increase capacity by 11 per cent between Helsinki and Billund.
With 117 million passengers last year, Ryanair has now overtaken Lufthansa Group, according to a new report on Europe’s 20 biggest airlines and aviation groups in 2016. This is the first time that a low-cost carrier has become larger than any of Europe’s major aviation groups. Lufthansa Group includes Austrian, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings and Swiss and flew 110 million passengers last year. Lufthansa alone carried 62 million. Ryanair saw a 15 per cent increase in passenger numbers, while the average growth at Lufthansa Group was just 1.8 per cent, according to the report by the Centre for Aviation, or CAPA. After Ryanair and Lufthansa Group, International Airlines Group was Europe’s third largest in terms of passengers last year. In addition to British Airways, this group includes the Irish carrier Aer Lingus and Spain’s Iberia and Vueling. The IAG companies totalled 101 million passengers last year. Next are Air France-KLM with 93 million passengers and easyJet, which last year saw an increase of 6.6 per cent and reached 75 million passengers. According to CAPA, the full-service companies among Europe’s 20 biggest airlines and aviation groups represented 59 per cent of the market last year, while low-cost carriers flew the remaining 41 per cent.
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EXPERIENCES ARE REPLACING EXPENSES Tesla is very aware that an important parameter for the business is the good experience – both in the car and also in its online universe. At Travelport’s Leadership Forum there was the possibility to get a test drive. Tesla’s newest models have already been prepared to be self-driven. Text and photo: Kitt Andersen
Travel managers are in the middle of redefining their role. In the future they will not be lying sleepless at night worrying whether the travellers are sticking to the budget but whether the experience has been good enough. The fact that technological development is moving faster than we can keep track with is nothing new. Most of us are experiencing this, unless we’re part of the generation that is being born with a tablet or smartphone in their hands. That it will be the experience itself and not the cost that comes to define future business for travel agents, airlines and travel managers is a somewhat different situation than the travel industry has been used to before. But technology has turned everything upside down when it comes to the relationship between the customer and the business. Previously, there was one way of doing things – now these are countless, and the customers are increasingly demanding. They want ease of use, multiple opportunities and the possibility to access them on their mobiles – quickly. That was one of the many interesting messages at the Travelport Leadership Forum, which was held at AC Hotel Bella Sky with presentations from Tesla, IATA, FDM Travel, BC, Hospitality Group, Norwegian and of course Travelport, which
invited 30 Nordic leaders from the travel business for a day’s discussion about Disruption and Innovation. Travellers’ demands These new times are also greatly affecting the travel manager’s job, which in many ways is being challenged in these times. But perhaps the discerning traveller is exactly the challenge that may contribute to stress and continue to make the travel manager’s role relevant. “As for many of us, travel managers are obligated to redefine their role. Previously, they have never had to think about the experience in itself. Their focus has always been on whether the traveller is complying with the company’s travel policy and saving money. But the traveller wants to do whatever is comfortable to himself and if the travel manager doesn’t provide the possibility to do so, the traveller will just go around the company’s travel policy and do it himself,” says Simon Ferguson, VP Commercial at Travelport. Why? In the future, it’s not just going to be the experience that defines how travel managers, travel agencies and airlines present their product. In addition it will be necessary to answer an entirely fundamental question in order to secure a company’s survival.
“The most important question a company has to ask is: Why should we exist tomorrow and why should the costumers care if we’re here or not? Disruptive companies such as Tesla ask: Why are we here, and what is our role in society? The answer to this ‘why’ has to define the future and direction of the company,” explains Anders Iversen, CEO at FDM Travel. For instance, a decision has been made to stop announcing ‘city breaks’ from one day to the next, because it was no longer the right answer to the question why. “We are best at selling experiences in the meantime. If you want to go direct then use Google, but if you want to take the long route you have to come to us. We possess that knowledge because of our past, and also because we have defined our ‘why’,” Iversen says. To define that ‘why’ was the easiest part of FDM Travels’ decision to take a look at a more than 100-year-old business with new eyes. The difficult part is to implement the consequences of that question. “We have been going at it for a year now, but it still feels as though we have just started with that strategy. We have to go through the entire organisation, marketing, sales channels, and all the decisions are made based on ‘Why?’”
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No363
BUSINESS TRAVEL
SECURITY INCREASINGLY TOPS AGENDA Companies are noticing an increased risk factor in their business travel. Security has moved up the agenda, becoming an integral part of companies’ travel management. By Jan Aagaard
Nice, Paris, Brussels, Munich, Berlin, Copenhagen. Terror has moved from distant countries and towns and has arrived in our own backyard. This is having an influence as to how companies are taking risk and security into account when sending their employees out into the world. “The terror-threat picture has changed in recent years, putting risk and security higher up the agenda for business travel. This includes smaller companies as well as the larger corporations,” says Anders Lau Nielsen, commercial director of BCD Travel in Denmark. “Companies have become more global and are affected by many different things, from extreme weather and epidemics to strikes and IT crime. Travel risk management deals with both the safety of the individual employee and the security of the business as a whole, a factor of which companies are becoming increasingly aware.” Seeing an increased risk In a survey by International SOS that took place in 75 countries at the end of 2016, 72 per cent of the travel managers questioned said that the element of risk involved in travel had increased over
the last year, especially regarding travel in Europe. More than half of those questioned added that they expected these risks to increase even more this year. With this in mind, 45 per cent of the companies had therefore altered their policy for travel safety. Anders Lau Nielsen tells us, “The most serious threats to businesses are terror attacks and similar events, but those which affect the business traveller most
Anders Lau Nielsen.
often are things such as strikes in the transport sector, lost luggage and theft, all of which can influence the company’s productivity.” Security, number-one priority COWI is one of the Danish companies where a greater focus has been placed on the safety of their employees while travelling these last few years. The engineering company has projects and offices the world over, employing some 7,000 employees, of whom around 2,000 are frequent travellers. “The safety question is now top of the agenda,” confirms Dorte Kjøller Holm, global manager at COWI. “It is integrated into our system and takes priority over all other factors concerning travel. The leadership and the workers share a common responsibility in this matter.” Together with a highly experienced and well-travelled leader, and a representative from the HR department, she is part of the company’s personnel safety team. In cooperation with, among others, COWI’s security chief and an external security company, this team constructs the framework for the safety of its employees while travelling. COWI has a very structured approach
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to the topic of security. Employees must book all travel through the company’s travel system, so that they always know where their people are. That way they can get in touch with them quickly, for example in the event of a terror attack or a natural disaster. Dorte Kjøller Holm: “We never know where a terror attack or other such serious events may take place. It is vital that we quickly have an overview and can come into contact with the employees in the area. They need to know that we are ready to help them whenever they need us.” High-risk countries COWI’s external security advisors define certain countries, primarily in the Middle East and Africa, as high-risk countries. When an employee books a trip to one of these destinations, he or she receives a message that it is a high-risk country and that the journey requires authorisation both from the security chief and the line manager. “The authorisation can include a briefing and possibly special training for the employee. This depends on a number of factors – which part of the country is to be visited, and for what purpose? Do we have an office in that country? How is the local transportation? How experienced is the employee with travel in that country? Does the employee speak the local language?, etc. We work with a checklist and evaluate every journey and the individual travelling employee,” explains Dorte Kjøller Holm.
“This may all sound circumstantial, but it is not so in practice. The structured procedure works well, and the employees are very attentive to guidelines and good advice. The procedure also sends an important signal to the staff, that their safety is of paramount importance to the company.” More surveillance on the way However, far from all companies are as systematic as COWI when working with travel and security. The survey from International SOS shows, for example, that less than one third of companies train their staff in travel security, while only a
quarter have introduced a system where they can locate employees abroad. The monitoring of employees is an area that will come more into focus in the future, according to BCD Travel, and this raises questions regarding data laws. “We are seeing at the moment a development where companies increasingly track their travelling employees using different parameters. Business travel bureaus can assist companies in using the wide range of technological developments available to eliminate risks, at the same time adhering to laws concerning data,” says Anders Lau Nielsen.
SAFETY FOR EVERYONE IN THE COMPANY Eleven countries have death penalty for homosexuality, and in some places women must be extra careful. Moreover, the focus is no longer merely on the travellers when it comes to safety.
is involved to a greater degree, and an app, which before was a popular additional purchase for travel managers to their travellers, where they can check themselves in, is now also used by the rest of the company.
By Kitt Andersen
Increased Focus on Women and LGBT At the Business Travel Show it was not only at iJet, but also at Anvil, BeTravelWise, and SOS, where there was a particularly heightened awareness of the two groups: Women and LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender). ”Previously, the travel directions for e.g. women were merely a part of our overall material. Now we do these separately. We also perform quarterly reports for LGBT to keep an eye on how the situation develops. In eleven countries you now risk execution for being homosexual, and large multinational companies do not want openly homosexual people to go on a journey without being well prepared,” says Bruce McIndoe.
The trend is quite clear. Previously the attention has been primarily centred on the traveller, but since the terror attacks in Brussels in March 2016, where two bombs were detonated by suicide bombers in the airport and in the metro system, companies have shifted their focus to include all employees. ”The newest trend is that duty of care is about all employees and not just those travelling. In Europe, the incidents in Brussels were the defining moment that resulted in a significant change for companies. The local employees felt abandoned,” Director Bruce McIndoe from iJet Intelligent Risk Systems said at the Business Travel Show in February in London. The options that were previously reserved for travellers are now also available for the employees who have been given the same access to hotline and registration in iJet’s system. HR
iJet has its main office in Annapolis, Maryland, and offices in, among other places, London, Singapore, Cape Town, and Berlin.
Dorte Kjøller Holm.
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No363
BUSINESS TRAVEL
FULL HOUSE AT OLYMPIA Both the Business Travel Show and Travel Technology Europe, which were held in London in February, saw more exhibitors and visitors than ever before. TTE had 7 per cent more visitors and 140 exhibitors, a 43 per cent increase compared to 2016.
Next year BTS at Olympia will expand its exhibitor council, as more exhibitors want bigger booths.
Text & photo: Kitt Andersen
SMALL HOTELS CAN MAKE MORE MONEY UnitPal from Denmark was among the finalists at the Travel Technology Disrupt Award 2017. It has developed a system that can help small and medium-sized hotels make more money. Via a free link from UnitPal, you build up your own hotel virtually and once this is done you decide whether you want to continue with a retail business or not. “We didn’t win, but got some useful experience and a lot of attention by participating. And it was a good occasion for the team to meet up,” said co-founder Kaare Harry Kjerrumgaard, referring to the fact that three of the involved are based in Bucharest on a daily basis, where they are busy coding.
GOODBYE TO VISIT CARDS At the Business Travel Show in London in February, all exhibitors and visitors were handed a ‘Touch-to-Collect’ microchip – a little plastic item shaped like a cartoon hand that can be attached to your name badge. The little hand is, among other things, used as an advanced electronic visit card. When two of the plastic hands touch, a little green signal indicates that there has been an exchange of information and that the operation is successful. Via signboards placed at the booths, the microchip hand can also retrieve information about the companies present. The microchip is provided with a USB stick, and via a computer you can view and download all the contacts that you have shaken hands with. The company behind this is called Poken and is a cloud-based event management platform which last year, together with the Swiss electronics company CSEM, received one million dollars for further development of the microchip.
TICKETS BY INSTALMENT
The previous hotel chief and yield and revenue manager Kaare Harry Kjerrumgaard has 25 years’ experience in the hotel business at Scandic, AccorHotels and Arp-Hansen among others. Here he is with tech team leader Ionut Cristian Paraschiv. Photo: Kitt Andersen.
The winner of the Travel Technology Disrupt Award 2017 on the first floor at Olympia in London was Flyto, which was among 15 contenders Travel Technology Europe chose to support this year with a space in the exhibition area. Flyto makes it possible for travellers to pay for airline tickets through a monthly instalment plan. “We honestly did not expect to win. Winning is huge for us, a massive recognition at the largest travel technology fair in Europe. Now we can go to the big travel companies as an award winner and talk to them about future collaboration,” said CEO Raphael Babalola. One of the judges, Lee Hayhurst, an editor at Travolution, added: Flyto is innovative, disruptive and easy to implement. It’s clear that they have conducted a lot of market studies and found a specific need in the market”. Other finaistls included Airlines Technology, Ensygnia, Rich Media Exchange and the Danish company UnitPal.
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No363
DBTA
By Anne Mette Berg General Manager, Danish Business Travel Association
THE FUTURE CANNOT BE AVOIDED – BUT IS IT DIFFICULT TO PREDICT? We are all aware that technological development is happening really fast and that many predictions – big and small – are suddenly becoming fact! In the world of travel and meetings it’s hard not to talk about the future, about development and technology. One excellent example is robots. In my youth, robots were something you read about in comic books or saw in movies. Now they have ‘come to life’ and are not so scary, because they
give us a wealth of exciting possibilities. We know that we will come to speak to robots in the near future, and we constantly hear fascinating stories from many sectors of the economy telling us about all the new advances that are possible with robots. On February 9 and 10, SBTA, our
At DBTA’s annual general meeting on April 27, we are working on presenting a real robot!
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med Star Alliance.
Swedish sister association, hosted the Nordic Business Travel Summit 2017. They were two exciting days, in which 200 participants revealed their experiences and expanded their networks. The key speaker was economist and author Kjell A Nordström, who is known for, among other things, the two books Funky Business and Urban Express. Countryside becomes towns The future according to Nordström is a fascinating, if slightly scary, place. Today there are 219 countries in the world, but urbanisation is happening at top speed and nobody seems to completely know why. Tokyo is on its way to 50 million, and Japan’s population is around 100 million. Chongqing in China already has a population of around 30 million in its municipality and Chinese cities compete with each other to attract new inhabitants. Today 35% of England’s economy is created in London and in 30 years it is predicted to become 85%! Sweden’s capital will be Stockholm, Gothenburg
and Malmö will remain university cities, but the rest of Sweden will become ‘junk space’. There were many more exciting topics and statements in Nordström’s lecture: • Children born today will live 91 years on average. • Higher education will not have the same value in the future, because all knowledge is easily accessible. • Individuals will no longer be employed on their talents but on their attitudes (talent can be developed). • Owned cars are on the way out, as it will no longer be important to own things. • Older people will be valued more, as experience will be in demand. • The emphasis will still be on reducing transaction costs. • Anything that can be digitalised, will be digitalised. Long life in the city Nordström also told us that we know people in cities live longer. Being togeth-
er with others and reacting to a city’s society simply provides more life energy. This is rather surprising, as most of us have the impression that it is healthier to live in the countryside. The idea that had the biggest impact on many in the audience was ‘tacit knowledge’. This is what links us together, making it interesting to be part of a group, a community, a city, and of course travel and meetings! One can find a wealth of information about tacit knowledge on the internet. It really makes sense! It is impossible, and uninteresting, to print the entire lecture here, but Nordström really made us think!
Danish Business Travel Association has around 120 members, including around 40 travel managers, while the others are suppliers for the travel industry – e.g. airlines, hotels, car rental, travel tech firms and more.
Viking Line welcomes you on board! Cruise between the capital cities of Finland, Sweden and Estonia. We operate 365 days a year. Enjoy dancing, great entertainment, good food and fun shopping. Welcome to Viking Line!
Sales.vikingline.com 43
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MICE
Konventum has more than 20,000 m2 of conference facilities, 222 rooms, 45 meeting rooms and group rooms at its disposal, and is situated on 300,000 m2 of grounds with views of Øresund.
Konventum Conference and Training Centre was founded by LO (Danish Confederation of Trade Unions) in 1969 as a college to educate the organisation’s members. Today, with its 1,200 works of art, it owns Denmark’s largest private collection of contemporary art from the 1950s to the current day.
The participants on the trip to North Zealand together with the Konventum employees were, from left: Sales Consultant Lene Holmlund and sales and marketing intern David Start, both from Konventum, Chief Consultant Berit Elmark from Unique Meetings in North Zealand, Lonni Petersen of Tumlare, (seated), Eva Havskjær of Nyhavn Rejser, Vagn Søndergaard Jensen of Egencia Meetings & Events, Sanne Fonager of Nyhavn Rejser, Anette Bak of Egencia Meetings & Events, and Vivi Foss of Nyhavn Rejser, who is newly hired to assist Tom Petersen, groups and incentives sales manager, with sales and business development.
Text & photo: Kitt Andersen
ON TOUR WITH THE MEETING PLANNERS It was an intensive but rewarding trip when Unique Meetings in Royal North Zealand in collaboration with Stand By brought meeting planners on a field trip up north around Elsinore. It was a small, select group of meeting planners from Nyhavn Rejser, Egencia Meetings & Events and Tumlare who in the middle of March met at Nyhavn Rejser to embark on a field trip up north, arranged by Stand By in collaboration with Unique Meetings in North Zealand. “I have the impression that this has been an excellent trip. The participants have realised that there is something outside Copenhagen of an exceptional standard.” This was the immediate reaction of Berit Elmark, chief consultant at Unique Meetings in North Zealand, after an exciting day visiting the Konventum conference and training centre, the Beach Hotel Marienlyst, the M/S Maritime Museum of Denmark, Kulturværftet and, finally, Toldkammeret, where there was dinner and a concert with Rasmus Walther.
The locations were visited with the intention of showing the meeting planners the options in North Zealand when it comes to hosting both a small board meeting and a big event for more than 100 people. “I believe we are capable of something really special in North Zealand,” says Berit Elmark. “The venues have been brave because they dared to work together towards a common goal. They share their guests and in this way give the customer a better experience, and there is strong support from the business community. This is what we would like to promote.” Enthusiasm about the region The latest numbers for the meeting industry in North Zealand are from 2014, where VisitDenmark made calculations
about the tourism economy which showed that business travel in Royal North Zealand accounted for 21 per cent of the total tourism consumption, accounting for around DKK 1 billion out of DKK 4.9 billion. By comparison, Copenhagen had a consumption of DKK 21.5 billion, Bornholm DKK 1.8 billion, at number three was Elsinore with DKK 1.6 billion, and Gribskov at number four with DKK 1.4 billion. And there’s no immediate indication of the development stagnating, at least not if you look at the latest investments in the region. “Four investors have bought hotels in the area in the last few years, two in Hornbæk, Marienlyst in Elsinore and Fredensborg Store Kro, and this bears witness to the excellent opportunities in our area,” says Berit Elmark.
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Marienlyst Strand- & Badehotel Marienlyst, has existed since 1861, and on December 31 a new wing with 94 new rooms was opened which means the hotel now has 225 rooms and suites and 18 meeting and conference rooms accommodating from four to 360 participants. Team building can be arranged both inside and outside and at Kronborg Castle. The property was destroyed with a price-tag of DKK 25 million by Storm Bodil in 2013. To avoid that happening again, in December 2016 when Storm Urd came, the hotel used untraditional methods and had 50 containers filled with sand and pebbles put up along the shoreline. The mission was successful. The hotel is also known for being the place where the national football team is assembled when there is a training camp.
Søfartsmuseet M/S Museet for Søfart created by Bjarke Ingels Group is located underground in an old dry dock near Kronborg and has received numerous awards and accolades including National Geographic referring to it as one of “10 museums to travel to for their stunning structures”. Event manager Cristel Mydske (right) made a tour round the museum. Left is Chief Consultant Berit Elmark from Unikke Mødesteder i Nordsjælland.
Kulturværftet Kulturværftet has existed since 1989 and is right on the waterfront at over 13,000 m2 including 3,000 m2 of old industrial halls, a library, two stages and seven meeting rooms with capacity of 10 to 150 delegates.
The four hotels are Hornbæk Hus and Villa Strand, which the founder of the Tiger chain, Lennart Lajboschitz, bought in 2015, and Hotel Bretagne, which likewise was bought in 2015 by Henrik Fredriksen who earned his money through the sale of Matas. Niels Fennet, who also owns the Cabinn hotel chain, bought Fredensborg Store Kro in 2013 and opened it in the summer of 2014. But with occupancy of 50 per cent he decided to shut down just before Christmas after acknowledging the local guests were gone. The inn has since reopened with a new concept. Last but not least, the Beach Hotel Marienlyst in Elsinore has gone through a thorough renovation following Storm Bodil in 2013, and with a new owner in 2014. On top of this, Marienlyst is far from
done with the renovations and additions. Currently, both an orangery and a spa with sea view are being built and there are also plans for a jetty.
THE 15 MEETING PLACES IN ROYAL NORTH ZEALAND
Chief consultant Berit Elmark from Unikke Mødesteder i Nordsjælland together with Jimmi Brandt from Exclusive Van & Limousines, who drove the participants from Copenhagen to Elsinore.
Konventum, Beach Hotel Marienlyst, Hotel Bretagne, Sundbusserne, Kulturværftet, Scandlines Helsingør-Helsingborg, M/S Maritime Museum of Denmark, Hotel Hornbækhus & Villa Strand, Kronborg Castle, Bymose Hegn, Comwell Borupgaard, Pharmakon Konferencecenter, Frederiksborgcentret, Madam Sprunck, Hotel Hillerød.
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MICE
A MECCA FOR MEETINGS AND INCENTIVES Only 10 per cent of the 2.7 million inhabitants in Dubai are native. Forty per cent of the population consists of Indians and you are helped everywhere by Indian employees, who are incredibly friendly and speak better English than the hotel staff in most European capitals.
By Thomas Vig Client Director, Agenda Group & Board Member, MPI Denmark
Dubai Business Events invited 85 meeting planners from all over Europe on an insightful study trip to the city that attracted 14.9 million visitors in 2016. Dubai was the world’s seventh most visited destination in 2016, more popular than New York, which is understandable once you’ve been there. The city and emirate offers tons of great experiences, starting right from the airport if you fly with Emirates’ super-modern Airbus A380, which offers a comfortable flight, and with free Wi-Fi you can work in the meantime. Once you land after six or seven hours, spectacular weather awaits you. It almost never rains. February, the coldest month, has a comfortable average temperature of 20 degrees (Celsius). Higher and wilder Dubai equals great experiences. The world’s tallest building. The world’s longest building, the world’s largest artificial island, the world’s biggest shopping mall, the world’s most monumental indoor ski area and, of course,
the world’s largest amusement park. You can also enjoy cocktails in the world’s highest bar, Vault, which is 72 floors up, inside one of the city’s almost 500 hotels. Add to that 5,400 restaurants and endless activities from gulf and water polo to desert racing and camel polo. And if that’s not enough, Dubai offers a wonderful sandy beach. The city’s at times insane architecture is quite an attraction in itself. So consider boarding a seaplane to view the city from above, or go out to the water in the quiet but beautiful marina area surrounded by beautiful apartment complexes, many of them 200-400 metres tall. Practical, safe, expensive For international meetings with participants coming from all over the world, Dubai is a particularly apt destination. The city’s airport receives guests from more than 270 destinations from 140 different airlines. In many areas, the city is 10 years ahead of other metropoles, something that is felt in the hotels too. Everything is of high standard – the rooms, the food, the conference rooms, etc. And there is free Wi-Fi everywhere. The security in Dubai provides safety for your participants. You will not see a lot of police, but the city is one of the safest – around the clock. The only
downside of Dubai is that it can be perceived as being a bit too lavish, and prices are not as cheap as one might expect when travelling east. Dress up your meeting in innovation The Emir of Dubai, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, said, “The race for excellence has no finish line”. The sentence has become a motto for a city that has the highest contemporary infrastructure and a clear vision for creating the world’s most innovative city. Driverless electric automobiles, 3D-printing, sustainability, spacecraft and drones are some of the things Dubai invests heavily in, attracting the world’s pioneers in the field of technology and IT. The city’s extreme focus on innovation has meant that the oil revenues today make up only 5% of the sources of income. Dubai is particularly interesting if the focal point of your meeting is innovation, IT, technology or growth because there is plenty of inspiration to be drawn from the city. See pictures from the tour on Instagram, #discoverdubai2017. Sources: Dubai Business Events & Dubai Tourism
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MPI
PHotos: Madkastellet
SUSTAINABILITY ON THE P LATE
DEMA is organised by the trade association MPI Denmark in collaboration with the Confederation of Danish Enterprise, KreaKom, VisitDenmark and Wonderful Copenhagen. Read more at www.dema17.dk and www.mpidenmark.dk
BY Ulrika Mårtensson Chairman, MPI
Under the slogan ‘Future Catering is Sustainable’, some of Denmark’s leading food creators – including a former sous chef at Noma – treated several hundred attendees at the industry’s biggest award show, the Danish Events & Meetings Awards, DEMA17. DEMA17 was not only the Danish travel trade’s biggest award ceremony. MPI Denmark, which is behind DEMA, also created it to as a professional platform for the meetings and events industry to inspire by paying tribute to best practice and demonstrating industry trends. The latter was served that evening by means of food on plates. Catering provider Madkastellet had handpicked some of Denmark’s leading chefs and
suppliers to present their idea as to why ‘Future Catering is Sustainable’. “Sustainability is a necessary and positive challenge that we must recognise is here to stay – and therefore work with – also in the catering industry,” said Rasmus Pors, a partner in Madkastellet. He believes that restaurateurs have the knowledge and thus a responsibility to present sustainable solutions. “It is necessary that we take this responsibility and make it accessible to the industry not only by thinking but also by acting more sustainably. We are in the engine room as restaurateurs who help organisers on the right path. And it is actually very straightforward and in no way limiting. We possess a huge amount of knowledge about how to prevent food waste and the use of
incorrect ingredients, while still maintaining a gastronomic revelation,” he said. “Catering in the future will without doubt become greener. On the plate and environmentally. But also much more creative, healthy, delicious and full of stories. I think that in five or ten years we will find that the difference between the catering and hospitality sectors will have almost disappeared.”
MPI Denmark with its 190 members is Europe’s largest branch, offering around 10 annual training seminars and network meetings in Denmark, with both local and international speakers. As a member you have access to MPI’s international activities, offers and network. www.mpidenmark.dk
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No363
PATA
READY WITH CLAY-PIGEON SHOOTING Most of PATA’s management board at the annual general meeting. From left: Henriette Lauritsen (Billund Airport), Chairman Claus Vestergaard Pedersen (Carlson Rezidor) and Christian Bjerre (British Airways). At the back, from left: Pakpon Nuangsen (Thai Airways), together with Claus Bille (Sun Hotels), Martin Schmidtsdorff (Atlantic Link) and Deputy Chairman June Nielsen (Inter Travel).
By Claus Vestergaard Pedersen Chairman, PATA Denmark
Is time running out for big workshops in the travel trade? Hardly, because PATA has never had so many bookings from suppliers as this year’s World Wide Workshops. Among the arrangements this year is a visit to Airbus. On November 1-2 at the Comwell Aarhus and the Tivoli Hotel & Congress Centre, respectively, PATA is holding its annual World Wide Workshops. Already, 60 per cent of the exhibition stands are sold. There have never been so many reservations so early. The PATA Denmark board had previously discussed whether such large annual World Wide Workshops were still necessary. It is evident that the answer is yes. Interest from exhibitors and guests alike is still thriving. Among the new exhibitors are LOT Polish Airlines, the reservations system Travelport, United Airlines and Morocco. We will make the two workshops broader and have met with tourist offices to encourage new destinations to participate. The huge interest shown at this early stage is evidence that the exhibitors regard our workshops as a great place
to show off their products and connect with travel agents. Also last year we had a record numbers of visitors, with over 300 travel agency employees in Aarhus and Copenhagen. We attract so many because, among other things, our workshops are open to all agents, not just PATA members. Visit to Airbus To continue to make PATA an attractive association to join and participate in, we have already planned a string of events both professional and social. At the moment the following are planned, with more to follow: April 6, Copenhagen: USA-expert Mads Fuglede May 17, Aarhus: Cycle ride to Aarhus Ø (the harbour) June 15, Copenhagen: Summer party with Generator Hostels, Singapore Airlines and South African Airways August 24, Aarhus: Clay pigeon shooting November 17-18: Trip to Airbus factory in Hamburg. November, Copenhagen: Panel debate on the future of the travel trade
PATA annual general meeting In February, we held the annual general meeting at the Tivoli Hotel & Congress Centre, with around 50 participants and Amadeus as sponsor. Flemming Sonne, Sales Director at Thai Airways, and Mical Ambæk, Marketing Representative of Turkish Airlines, wanted to leave the management after many good years of work. They were replaced by Henriette Laritsen of Billund Airport and Martin Schmidtdorff from Atlantic Link, while Pakpon Nuangsen of Thai Airways became the new alternate member. PATA Denmark has at the moment 105 company members and 130 private members. The cost of private membership is DKK 300 per year and DKK 2,500 for company membership.
PATA – Pacific Asia Travel Association. For more info: pata.org or pata.dk
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No363
LEISURE
TRAVEL INDUSTRY HAS TOO FEW ANALYSTS
By Jan Ohlsson
Tourism is spoken about as a future-based industry, yet it has no companies providing analysis. Tourists from distant countries are talked about the most but they can only be measured in the thousands. It is the adjacent markets that are important for the Nordic countries. That is how Hans Remvig describes the travel industry. He is one of the owners of Resurs, which has dealt with analyses, calculations and the development of tourism on a consulting basis since 1922 and is active throughout the Nordic region. He believes that too many decisions and investments today are based purely on wishful thinking and distorted statistics. All the way up to the circles of government. In reality, the numbers of overseas tourists who came to Sweden declined by 6 per cent in 2015. Stockholm as Nordic hub “It is the charter bus operators that determine the routes and Sweden is not the country they start with. From China, most travel as groups into Helsinki and then take a Finnish ferry where they can
eat and sleep inexpensively. It’s only at that point that they see Stockholm and then they stay outside the city and later in Karlstad, for example, or Munkfors near the border with Norway. They arrive late and take off early to see Oslo, then take an inexpensive boat to Copenhagen and then travel home.” Hans Remvig thinks the ferry traffic in the Nordic region means far more for transport, tourism and revenues than the statistics show. The ferry industry also does tourism a disservice when it does not provide statistics to the shipping database Shippax, highlighting in this regard particularly DFDS, Scandlines and two Polish operators. “This means that hotels, holiday villages and others have difficulty adjusting offers and investments. In the central Baltic region, where the competition is fiercest, everyone provides their statistics. Everyone benefits from that in the long run. Volume gives revenue Visit Sweden was criticised in the past for only investing in a dozen major markets. Many wanted more. Hans Remvig thinks two could be enough.
“I wish Visit Sweden could think a little bit more like the charter industry. Where do you find the volumes and revenues? It’s the same all over the world. People don’t really travel that far. Sweden should focus on populous Germany and Poland. Regional stakeholders can turn their attention to their neighbouring countries.” Danes who have summerhouses in Sweden alone generate an income of one billion SEK and create many jobs in the provinces. In Bohuslän and Norrbotten there are huge grocery stores in small villages. They earn millions from Norwegians who come to shop. “But it’s not as sexy as distant markets,” says Remvig, who also sees aviation taxes as a threat. The amounts are too small. He sees that the Swedish krona is getting cheaper, making the country even more popular. But everything must be seen in context. “A large percentage of tourists travel to visit friends and family. They travel and eat, but they don’t appear in the overnight statistics. Sweden’s high proportion of immigrants makes this share greater in both respects.” 47
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No362
LEISURE
TUNISIA: BETTER – AND CHEAPER Malgorzata Hudyma, Poland’s tourism boss in the Nordics, gives TTG a big smile while presenting the statistics for 2016.
POPULAR POLAND By Jan Ohlsson Poland has become a year-round destination for people from the Nordic region. Visitor numbers from Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland increased by 7.4 per cent during 2016 and the number of overnights by 8.9%. The total number of visitors from the Nordic region was 539,234 – nearly 10% of Poland’s total tourist visitors (6,108,199). LOT, SAS, Wizz Air and Ryanair all fly from the Nordic region, while Polferries, Unity Line, TT Line and Stena Line are the ferry lines that link four Swedish ports across the Baltic Sea with two destinations on the Polish coast – Swinoujscie and the Gdansk region. Culture, shopping and wining and dining with some of the best prices in Europe attract a lot of visitors to cities like Warsaw, Gdansk and Krakow. The latter has a lot to offer when it comes to history, art and culture, supplemented by the classic winter sports capital Zakopane, where skiing can be enjoyed straight from the hotel miljø_192x94:Layout 1 18/11/14 13:02 Side 1 door. In summer, there are sandy beaches and real nature with all TCASofmiljø_192x94:Layout 1 18/11/14 13:02 Side 1 kinds active holiday opportunities.
“The first charter flights from Sweden to Tunisia return in the spring,” announces Saoussen Elloumi, Tunisia’s new tourism chief for the Nordics, adding that improved safety and calm should mean that it is no longer inadvisable to travel to the country. “If Great Britain no longer advises against travelling to a country, the Nordics usually follow suit and Sweden has already eased up a little. In spite of everything, we took five million tourists in 2016, as opposed to the usual total of seven million. We hope that 2018 will bring a breakthrough in the Nordic volumes.” From April, Thomas Cook will fly charters from Belgium to Tunisia again, and TUI has decided to follow from next year. Tourism, which represents 15 per cent of Tunisia’s BNP, has fallen 58 per cent over the last two years. “The revolution has given us a more stable democracy and a meaningful breakthrough for women,” Elloumi says. “The majority of those who today read law and medicine are women, and we have a more open society which we feel Nordic people will appreciate. The interruption has led to us have lower prices than, for example, Turkey, also for golf, and the Dinar is low. We have had very stable development, but for a little country it is difficult to spread the message.”
Luftens bedste miljøvalg
Luftens bedste miljøvalg 48
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By Henrik Baumgarten
EVENTS
SALES RECORD FOR FERIE FOR ALLE
A peep into one of the big halls at this year’s Ferie for Alle.
In February it’s time once again for Scandinavia’s biggest holiday fair, which this year welcomed nearly 60,000 visitors. One player that sells really well at Herning’s holiday fair is Bravo Tours, Denmark’s third largest travel agency. “We sold 5,500 trips. That’s twice as many as we’re used to selling in one weekend,” administrative director Peder Hornshøj told Stand By. At the opening of the event two prizes were awarded, according to tradition. Visit Aarhus got the Havfrueprisen (Mermaid Award) for its efforts to expand the holiday experiences in that city, while the team behind Rejseblokken.dk, Karen Seneca and Lone Holm, was awarded the title Årets Rejsejounalister, or travel journalists of the year.
TURKISH AIRLINES BOOSTS COPENHAGEN While the Star Alliance member has cut down on its passenger routes to Denmark, the route to Aalborg, among others, has been shut down and the freight route is moving forward. Last spring the company opened a freight route from Istanbul to Billund and in November it increased its flights to twice a week to Denmark’s next largest airport with an Airbus A330, confirmed by Turkish Airlines’ new chief at Copenhagen Airport at the holiday fair. The company, which also flies a passenger route to Billund, has traffic operations in Copenhagen with two flights a day – during the summer program this year it will be three daily flights.
KLM was among the exhibitors on the Aalborg Airport stand: from left, the airport’s operational director Kim Bermann, KLM’s vice manager of sales Anette MacAllan, and airport manager Søren Svendsen.
KLM INCREASING IN AALBORG
Harun Köse, head of Turkish Airlines at Billund Airport, left, with Serkan Binyar, the airline’s new chief at Copenhagen Airport.
KLM has introduced its fourth daily departure between Monday and Friday from Amsterdam to Aalborg. The airline already has five departures on working days to Billund that will increase to seven between May 7 and October 22 and seven to Copenhagen.
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No363
FERIE FOR ALLE - fortsat..
DANISH VISIT RECORD IN GERMANY Last year there was 3.325 million Danish overnight stays in Germany, an increase of 0.9 per cent. Overall there were 1.5 million Danish arrivals. The figures were disclosed by the head of German Tourist Information in Denmark, Bo Schou Lauridsen, at the fair where there was 24 exhibitors at the big German stand. Last year the regions with most Danish travelers were Schleswig-Holstein, Berlin, Niedersachsen including Harzen and Hamburg. German Tourist Information recently launched its largest and most expensive campaign targeted the Danish audience. Behind the campaign are Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Niedersachsen and Hamburg and Bremen. See more at: einsmuttur.dk
Head of the German Tourist Information in Denmark, Bo Schou Lauridsen and Marie Zürnstein, head of international marketing of Mecklenburg-Vorpommeren.
From the Faroese stand, from left: Marni Hjallnafoss, marketing director and co-founder of the large Faroese incoming travel agency Green Gate, Maria Samson Christensen, co-founder of the agency Make Travel, and the director of the Faroe Islands’ airport Jakup Sverri Kass.
FAROES’ JOY OVER MICHELIN STAR Shortly before Ferie for Alle, Michelin announced it had awarded the restaurant Koks the Faroe Islands’ very first Michelin star. That piece of news was much talked about at the Faroese stand in Herning. Koks initially opened at the islands’ largest hotel, Hotel Føroyar, outside Thorshavn, but is today situated in Bygden Kirkjubør close to the town centre. However, in April next year, Koks will be moving to its own space close to the Hotel Føroyar. After the publishing of the Michelin star, Koks received hundreds of reservations, also from future guests from across Europe. And it may be a good idea to make reservations first, even before booking the airline ticket, because Koks only has 25 seats. The director of the Faroes’ Vagar Airport, Jakup Sverri Kass, said the airport will get an additional 350 parking places, pushing the total up to 800. The first part of this expansion will be ready for October. SAS opened a new route last month and began daily flights from Copenhagen to Vagar, while the British carrier Flybe will launch routes between Vagar and Edinburgh, twice a week, between May 26 and September 1. Kass added that he will be participating in the annual Routes Europe conference in late April and that he has already received two requests for meetings from non-Nordic European airlines.
NEW AGENCY AT THE FAIR Among the 1,177 exhibitors at Ferie for Alle was the brand new Danish travel agency Pacific Tours, specialising in Australia and New Zealand. It was established by Michael Jensen, who left his job last year at Risskov Travel Partner.
Michael Jensen is flanked by, left, Karin Gert Nielsen, owner of the GSA agency Atlantic Link, and head of sales in Denmark, Sigridur “Sigga” Sveinsdóttir.
BETTER CONNECTIONS TO MEXICO In autumn, there will be better connections between northern Europe and Mexico. Finnair is opening a seasonal route from Helsinki to Puerto Vallarta between November 19 this year and March 18 next year, with a total of 18 return flights. The news delighted Vicente Salas, European director for Mexico’s official tourism council Sectur. During Ferie for Alle he told Stand By: “Last year Mexico had 35 million international tourists, an increase from 32.1 million in 2015. Of these 14,000 came from both Denmark and Norway and 40,000 from Sweden.” About the well-publicised plans of the new US administration to build a wall alongside Mexico, he said: “The US can do whatever it wants on its own territory. For the time being, Mexico’s tourist market is not affected by the plans for a wall”.
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CHAIN RENOVATING FOR MILLIONS Arp-Hansen, Copenhagen’s largest hotel chain with around 3,700 rooms – more than 20 per cent of the capital’s hotel capacity – is currently using a yet to be determined amount, somewhere in the tens of millions, to renovate three of its 11 hotels. These include Nyhavn 71, the Phoenix Copenhagen and the Copenhagen Strand. The chain reported this to Stand By when it recently held its annual workshop with 300 registered business partners at Tivoli Hotel & Congress Center. For example, at the Copenhagen Strand the entire interior will be pulled out of the 174 rooms, though the bathrooms are new and will not be affected, said General Manager Peter Borup, who added that with the relaunch of the Strand around May 1 it will go from a three- to four-star hotel. Birthe Becker, group head of sales and marketing at Arp-Hansen, explained that the chain sold 937,000 hotel rooms, had 1.4 million guests and had an occupancy rate of 77 per cent last year. Arp-Hansen will open two new hotels this spring. A 2-star Wakeup in central Aarhus with 315 rooms and the chain’s first hostel, Steel House, with 253 rooms and 1,154 beds. It is situated near Copenhagen Central Station and the rooms will have two, four and six beds, respectively.
At the USA workshop with Karin Gert Nielsen at the front and the United States’ acting Ambassador to Denmark, Chargé D’Affaires Laura Lochman. Photo: Preben Pathuel.
200 AGENTS AT USA WORKSHOP Discover America Denmark had a large USA gathering in Copenhagen at the Tivoli Hotel & Congress Center in March. In 2015, there were a total of 253,000 Danish visitors to the United States, though the figure for 2016 is not yet known. The Discover America travel show was opened by the United States’ acting Ambassador to Denmark, Chargé D’Affaires Laura Lochman.
Australian Gregory Baker, buyer of hotel rooms in Copenhagen for A.P. Møller-Mærsk, left, with Birthe Becker, Group Head of Sales & Marketing at Arp-Hansen and Bo Madsen, Regional Manager Nordic Countries & Baltic Sea at the Arp-Hansen gathering.
TAP NORDIC AND BALTICS STRENGTHENS THE TEAM TAP Nordics and Baltics have recently strengthened the team in the Tallinn office to provide the best possible assistance to our agents, in the Nordic countries. Please welcome them “with open arms”.
Fra venstre: Janek, manager, Merit (SE), Grete(DK), Monika & Lasse (SE). Foto: Jane Meresmaa-Roos
SECURITY FROM TERROR This time around, the IATA Comet Club invited Henrik Iding from Gouda to give an exciting lecture on security and protection from terror at Greenland Travel in Christianshavn. He explained how 9/11 in 2001 and the tsunami in 2004 in particular changed the industry, showing the need for insurance and emergency response. Henrik Iding mentioned the earthquake in Nepal as an important case for Gouda, as many young Danish backpackers were in the area at the time and needed help with numerous practical matters as well as for injury and crisis counselling. The need for insurance today and in the future should not be overlooked and this also sparked a lively debate about the future of travel. One thing that everyone agreed on, however, was that Danish wanderlust has not been negatively influenced by either terrorism or disasters. It certainly changes where you travel to, but it does not stop people from travelling. 51
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EVENTS
APPRECIATING MICE During the Kursuslex Meeting and Event Fair at the Bella Center, eight awards were presented to players in the MICE industry, which in Denmark has an annual revenue of more than DKK 20 billion. “This year the fair had 330 exhibitors and 2,500 visitors. When we held the first one more
All the winners at Kursuslex 2017 – photo: Vicki Maddison.
than 20 years ago, there were 23 exhibitors and 87 visitors,” Kursuslex CEO Christian Guldager told Stand By. The award winners were determined through a vote of more than 3,000 meeting planners and a Kursuslex panel of experts. This year’s eight winners were: Best service:
Hindsgavl Slot; best food concept: Paper Island Copenhagen Street Food; best rooms: Comwell Hotel Kellers Park; best meeting concept: Comwell; best speakers bureau: Athenas; best team building vendor: CoastZone; best event bureau: JCP Event Denmark; best catering vendor: Madkastellet.
MANY AT FAREWELL RECEPTION “There is no direct replacement for me,” British Airways’ now retired manager for Denmark, Peter Rasmussen, told Stand By at his farewell reception in February at Hotel Ascot in Copenhagen. The gathering attracted many top guests from airlines, corporate travel agents and travel managers. “I have had 24 fantastic years at British Airways, but want to do something different in the future. What, I do not know yet,” said 50-year-old Peter Rasmussen. Since 2009, he has been the regional commercial manager for northern Europe including the Nordic region, the Baltic countries and Russia, as BA is also a family member of Iberia and oneworld partner American Airlines.
Two chairmen at ANTOR’s New Year’s reception. Anne-Vibeke Isaksen heads the Danish Travel Writers’ Association, while Stig Sommerfeldt Kaspersen has the same title at ANTOR.
ANTOR’S NEW MEMBERS
Peter Rasmussen, left, received a visit of BA partner, Commercial Director at Sun-Air, Kristian Tvergaard. Photo: Preben Pathuel.
The Association of National Tourist Office Representatives in Denmark, ANTOR, has Kenya and Jordan as new members but said goodbye to the French tourist office, Atout France. Stig Sommerfeldt Kaspersen, chairman of ANTOR and head of the Portuguese tourist bureau in Denmark, told this to Stand By at the association’s New Year’s reception, which this year was held at Nørrebro Bryghus. The Danish ANTOR – Association of National Tourist Office Representatives – currently has 19 members.
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JOBS
DIRECTOR LEAVES ALLER LEISURE
MICE IN THE CIRCUS
30-YEAR-OLD HEAD OF GIANT HOTEL
In March, and with short notice, 42-year-old Rikki Sølling has left Aller Leisure, where he had been director since Aller Medier launched the company in 2013 with the purchase of the sizeable Nyhavn Rejser. Today, Aller Leisure in Denmark also owns the travel agencies Kulturrejser Europa, Nilles Rejser and Beach Tours. To Stand By, Rikki Sølling said, “The reason for me stopping at Aller Leisure is undramatically boring. After twenty years in the travel industry I have an increasing desire to work in a completely different way. I have looked at areas that suit me, and it will be something to do with strategy, being an investor and having fewer management responsibilities.”
The Circus Building in Copenhagen currently has around 25,000 MICE guests annually, but this number should increase. To achieve this goal, it has hired 49-year-old Lisbeth Simonsen in a newly created position as Commercial Sales Relations Manager. She has for the last 12 years worked for the Norwegian chain First Hotels in Denmark, most recently as sales director.
Eda Durnal, 30, will be the new general manager of CabInn Village in Ørestad with the existing Metro Hotel with 708 rooms. In July, the complex will be expanded with a further 520 hotel apartments, bringing it to 1,228 rooms and apartments. Previously one of two hotel managers for CabInn Metro in Ørestad, Eda Durnal has now been appointed overall general manager. The 2-star hotel is with its 708 rooms the largest in the CabInn chain. Born in Slagelse, Eda has an HHX-degree from Niels Brock Copenhagen Business College as well as a receptionist degree from Copenhagen Hospitality College. Her career began at the First Hotel Vesterbro, but in 2010 she switched to CabInn.
BIG HOSTEL GETS YOUTHFUL CHIEF This summer, Steel House Copenhagen opens the country’s largest hostel with 1,150 beds in 253 rooms, with 37-yearold Jep Friis Egefjord as its director. Behind Steel House stands Copenhagen’s biggest hotel group Arp-Hansen, which with its 11 hotels has close to 25 per cent of the Danish capital’s hotel rooms. Jep Friis Egefjord, an economist from Aarhus University, has been brought in from Arp-Hansen’s own ranks.
HEAD OF A HUGE HOTEL CHAIN Denmark’s Frank Fiskers will soon cease to be chief executive of Scandic Hotels, which has 230 hotels with 44,000 rooms and 14,400 employees. He is replaced from August 1 by the Norwegian Even Frydenberg. Frank Fiskers, 55, has worked for Scandic for eight years. Even Frydenberg, 53, comes from Starwood Hotels & Resorts, which was taken over worldwide by Marriott last year. He has since 2013 been responsible for Starwood Hotels & Resorts’ operations in Western Europe.
In our Summer edition we are focusing on
AGENT CONTACT CHIEF Anne Klintfält has just assumed responsibility for agent contact, events and fairs, for the Danish GSA bureau United Spirit Nordic. She has over the previous nine months worked for Emirates but also has experience from other airlines, as well as Marriott.
THE NEXT ISSUE OG TTG NORDIC IS PUBLISHED MAY 20TH
LEISURE T TRAVEL MANAGEMEN CAR RENTAL & TECHNOLOGY FOR ADVERTISING Please call +45 70 25 97 00 or write to sales@ttgnordic.com - Deadline is April 25th
You can also advertise for your new staff members at ttgnordic.com 53
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www.arthurhotels.dk
www.billund-airport.dk/ om-lufthavnen/check-inbillund
PARTNERS
Airlines
www.airfrance.com/dk www.airfrance.com/se
www.icelandair.dk www.icelandair.se www.icelandair.no
Car Rentals & Limousines www.hurtigruten.com
www.qatarairways.com
Airports and handling www.iberia.com
www.avis.dk www.avis.se www.avis.no
www.royalcaribbean.com
www.royalcaribbean.dk/fi/no/se
Hotels
Conferences & Courses www.alsieexpress.dk
www.jet-time.dk
www.bll.dk
www.europcar.dk www.europcar.com
www.atlantic.fo/da
www.klm.com
www.hca-airport.dk
www.hertzdk.dk
www.absalon-hotel.dk
www.ba.com
www.sas.dk
www.cph.dk
www.sixt.dk
www.accorhotels.com
Ferries & Cruises www.cxagents.com
www.sun-air.dk
www.trafikstyrelsen.dk
www.crowneplaza.com
Associations www.dat.dk
www.flytap.com
www.finnair.dk
www.thomascookairlines.dk
www.dbta.dk
www.celebrity.com
www.arp-hansen.dk
www.dfds.dk
www.smalldanishhotels.dk
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INDHOLD
Alfabetica Travel Agencies Business & Leisure
INDHOLD
www.firsthotels.com
INTERVIEW Side 8
08
Per G. Braathen – eneejer af det svenske flyselskab BRA
www.cirkusbygningen.dk
www.godominicanrepublic.com
Joint Ventures er ikke til at komme uden om
Side 18
Mere underholdning på fremtidens flyrejser
Side 20
Tidligere direktør for SAS, Vagn Sørensen,
om fremtiden indenfor luftfart
Side 24
Status Københavns Lufthavn
Side 26
Status Arlanda & Gardermoen
www.bcdtravel.se
www.bcdtravel.no
www.bcdtravel.fi
Publications www.udviklingfyn.dk
www.melia.com
AIRLINE Side 14
www.bcdtravel.dk
www.scandichotels.dk
www.standby.dk www.ttgnordic.com
Insurance
Recruitment Travel Trade
Travel Technology www.france.fr
HVIS REJSER ER DIN PASSION ER BRASILIEN DIN DESTINATION!
www.datacon.dk/travel www.oi-brasil.dk
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20
LEISURE Side 28
Iran vil have turister DANMARK
BUSINESS TRAVEL
24
28
Side 35
Oplevelser vigtigere end omkostninger
Side 36
Stort fokus på sikkerhed
Side 38
Nyheder fra Business Travel Show
Side 40
Robotterne kommer
www.erv.dk
www.centrum-personale.dk
www.visitmalta.com
SVERIGE www.spain.info
travelize.com AllaBussresor.se AllaTemaresor.se
www.germany.travel
www.travelmarket.dk
www.unikkemoedesteder.dk
www.travelport.dk www.travelport.se
www.erv.se
www.kellyservices.dk
www.procon.dk
www.spain.info
MICE
53 44
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Side 42
På tur med mødeplanlæggerne
Side 44
Bæredygtighed på tallerkenen
Side 45
Dubai Business Events
Tourist Boards - Information www.gouda.dk
MICE
LEISURE Side 46
Nyt fra PATA
Side 47
Turistbranchen mangler analytikere
Meetings, Incentives, Conferences & Events/ Exhibitions
www.visitdenmark.com
Absalon Hotel Accor Hotels Alsie Express Air France Arp-Hansen Hotel Group Atlantic Airways Avis Baltic Stand By BCD Travel Billund Lufthavn British Airways Cathay Pacific Airways Celebrity Cruises Centrum Personale A/S Cimber Air Cirkusbygningen Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers Copenhagen Danish Air Transport Destination Fyn Datacon DBTA DFDS Seaways Dominican Republic Europcar Europæiska Reseförsäkringar Europæiske Rejseforsikring Finnair First Hotel France Atout France Gouda Rejseforsikring Hans Christian Andersen Airport Hertz Hurtigruten icelandair Jet Time A/S Kelly KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Meliâ Oi Brasil Procon Solution Qatar Airways Royal Caribbean Cruise Line SAS Scandic Hotels Sixt Small Danish Hotels Spanske turistkontor Stand By Sun Air TAP Portugal Thomas Cook Airlines Travelmarket Travelport Travelize International AB Tysk Turist Information Unikkemoedesteder.dk VisitDenmark VisitGreenland.com Visitmalta
EVENT & RECRUITMENTS Side 49
36
35
Is YOUR company missing?
Contact STAND BY on phone: + 45 7025 9700 or e-mail: sales@standby.dk
Stand By is issued six times per year and distributed as paid subscription in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, The Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland to travel agents, tour operators, airline offices tourist agencies, foreign tourist representatives, tourist bus companies, and all of the major industries in Scandinavia. Stand By bears no responsibility for unsolicited editorial material
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We’re
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No 363 Marts / April 2017
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