Airlines
Rewarding The Elite
It was a glitzy affair at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) as Delta Air Lines -- along with its joint venture partners, Air France, KLM and Alitalia -- hosted its top travel agents at the airline's first annual awards event. A total of 30 agents -- plus 26 representatives from Delta, Air France, KLM and Alitalia -- were on hand at the ROM's C5 restaurant to enjoy some festive networking and take a tour of the museum's Chihuly exhibit – with the evening topped off by a spectacular gala dinner and awards presentation. Delta's Steven Larkin welcomed the 30 top agents to the first...
Make Your Miles Count
There's no better time of year to give and for Aeroplan members there's no better week -- it's the Air Canada Foundation and Aeroplan Miles Matching Week in support of the Air Canada Foundation Hospital Transportation Program. The program redistributes Aeroplan Miles donated by Air Canada customers to 15 pediatric hospitals across Canada by providing flights for sick children who need specialized health care not available in their community. Aeroplan will match all miles donated between Dec. 5-11, up to 500,000 Aeroplan Miles. “This is an amazing opportunity for the Air Canada...
IATA Tackles Top Issues In Casablanca
IATA highlighted four priorities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) which must be addressed for aviation to deliver maximum economic and social benefits. Those priorities include: Sufficient and affordable infrastructure capacity (including air traffic management), aligned with user needs. Curbing the spate of unprecedented increases in taxes and charges over the last year. Aligning consumer protection regulations with global standards. Enhancing security efforts. The airline industry association notes that passenger demand in MENA is set to expand by 4.8% each...
Travix Launches Routehappy Hub Pilot
Travix – which operates 35 OTA websites in 29 countries – has announced the launch of its pilot with Routehappy Hub. The integration moves flight shopping on Travix websites away from just price and schedule by incorporating compelling and targeted airline product information and media like photos and videos in a standardized content format called UPAs (Universal Product Attributes) from Routehappy Hub into its flight search results and upsell offers. Routehappy – which is a merchandising content platform for flight shopping – will be powering creation and distribution of...
Korean Air Expands In North America
Korean Air is aggressively expanding on the U.S West Coast and strengthening its relationship with SkyTeam partner, Delta, to ensure the airline’s continued leadership in 2017 and beyond. To do this, the carrier will increase its flights from Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Las Vegas – creating a massive network between the U.S. and Asia through a blossoming partnership with Delta Airlines. By June, Korean Air will operate almost 50 flights a week from the West Coast including 19 from Los Angeles, 14 from San Francisco beginning September, seven from Seattle and five from...
AC Stuffs Stockings With More Flights
Air Canada kicked off the Vancouver Christmas season with a festive get-together at the Waterview event venue on False Creek late last week and brought good tidings of service expansions. Air Canada VP of global sales Duncan Bureau hosted the proceedings, and told invited tour operators, travel agents and partners that more international flights by the airline were scheduled for Vancouver in 2017. Upcoming for YVR by AC next year will be flights to Dallas, Taipei, Nagoya, Frankfurt and London Gatwick. Bureau reviewed the expansionary history of 2016, saying that the airline added...
EXCLUSIVE: Simply Not Enough
A transactional relationship between airline and passenger that starts with a reservation and ends with baggage pick-up at flight’s end is ``simply not enough,” according to IATA director general Alexandre de Juniac. That’s why legacy airlines must aim for long-term relationships with their customers in order to evolve from commodity travel providers into bespoke travel partners, he told the recent World Travel Symposium in Dubai. Getting there will involve a combination of marketing expertise, advanced communication technology and big data analysis, said de Juniac, who added,...
Transforming Partnership
As a part of its 5-year transformation plan, Kuwait Airways is teaming up with Amadeus. Under the stewardship of chairperson and CEO, Rasha Al Roumi, the Middle East’s first female airline CEO, Kuwait Airways has undertaken to implement a bold new strategy designed to revive the airline’s once pioneering legacy in regional aviation, with clear infrastructural changes and new technologies that will see it become the preferred airline linking Kuwait to the world, by 2021. The transformation process was unveiled in September of this year and was followed by the launch of the...