Welcome to the March 2010 Issue of Travology Today

Following are some 2010 travel trends:

1. Travelers are going mobile, with more using PDAs to present boarding passes and track flight delay announcements
2. Travelers on a budget are looking for hotels with included amenities like WiFi and breakfast
3. There is a shift from 5-star to 4- or 3-star hotel properties to get the most out of the travel spend
4. The Toyota recall has impacted the car rental industry. With less cars available, prices may increase.
5. Travel policy enforcement is now stronger than ever. Compliance is the key to successful savings and travel managers are looking more closely at policy to ensure it remains current.
6. Travel Managers will continue to reduce the number of preferred travel vendors to leverage purchasing spend
7. More emphasis is being put on identifying, leveraging and managing a company’s meeting spend

For more information on these trends, please contact your National Account Manager.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is forecasting that key airspace safety and efficiency modernization efforts will play a vital role in spurring long-term sustained growth in air travel and the nation’s overall economic health. This forecast, which comes after a short-term period of slow growth in aviation activity, underscores the need for the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) and continued investment in airport infrastructure projects.

The FAA’s 20-year forecast for Fiscal Years 2010-2030 predicts domestic passengers on flights will increase by 0.5 percent in 2010 and then grow an average of 2.5 percent per year during the remaining forecast period. Total flights are forecast to decrease 2.7 percent to 51.5 million in 2010, and then grow at an average annual rate of 1.5 percent reaching 69.6 million in 2030. At the nation's 35 busiest airports, operations are expected to increase 60 percent from 2010 to 2030.

The FAA predicts that U.S. airlines will reach one billion passengers a year by 2023, and the number of passengers on U.S. airlines domestically and internationally is forecast to increase from 704 million in 2009 to 1.21 billion by 2030.

“This forecast makes a very strong business case for NextGen,” said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt. "Without NextGen, we won’t be able to handle the increased demand for service that this forecast anticipates.”

NextGen is transforming air traffic control from the ground-based radar system of today to a satellite-based system of the future. These advancements are already showing safety, efficiency and environmental benefits. NextGen technologies and procedures will increase capacity and safety and reduce fuel burn, carbon emissions and noise by providing more efficient air routes and procedures. Other innovations include improved weather forecasting, data networking and digital communications. Hand in hand with these state-of-the-art technologies are airport improvements that are beginning to give pilots and controllers a more precise picture of the location of aircraft and vehicles on runways and taxiways. More information on NextGen can be found here.

For more forecast details, click here.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) halved its loss forecast for 2010 to US$2.8 billion (compared to the US$5.6 billion loss forecast in December 2009). The improvement is largely driven by a much stronger recovery in demand seen by year-end gains that continued into the first months of 2010. Relatively flat capacity translated into some yield improvement and stronger revenues.

IATA also lowered its 2009 loss estimate to US$9.4 billion from the previously forecast US$11.0 billion loss.

Improvements are driven by economic recovery in the emerging markets of Asia-Pacific and Latin America whose carriers posted international passenger demand gains of 6.5% and 11.0% respectively in January. North America and Europe are lagging with international passenger demand gains of 2.1% and 3.1% respectively for the same month.

“We are seeing a definite two-speed industry. Asia and Latin America are driving the recovery. The weakest international markets are North Atlantic and intra-Europe which have continuously contracted since mid-2008,” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO.

Forecast highlights include:

Improving Demand: Passenger demand (which fell by 2.9% in 2009) is expected to grow by 5.6% in 2010. This is an improvement on the previous forecast in December of 4.5% growth. Cargo demand (which fell by 11.1% in 2009) is expected to grow by 12.0% in 2010. This is significantly better than the previously forecast 7.0% growth.

Load Factors: Airlines kept capacity relatively in line with demand throughout 2009. A strong year-end recovery pushed load factors to record levels when adjusted for seasonality. By January the international passenger load factor was 75.9% while cargo utilization was at 49.6%.

Premium Travel: Premium travel, while slower to recover than economy travel, now appears to be following a cyclical recovery in volume terms. But it is still 17% below the early 2008 peak. Premium yields, which are 20% below peak, may be suffering a structural shift.

Fuel: With improved economic conditions, the price of fuel is rising. IATA raised its expected average oil price to US$79 per barrel from the previously forecast US$75. That is an increase of US$17 per barrel on the US$62 average price for 2009. The combined impact of increased capacity and a higher fuel price will add US$19 billion to the industry fuel bill bringing it to an expected US$132 billion in 2010. As a percentage of operating costs, this represents 26%, up from 24% in 2009.

Revenues: Revenues will rise to US$522 billion. That is US$44 billion more than previously forecast and a US$43 billion improvement on 2009.

For more information, click here.

Air travelers strongly approve of the government's use of body scanners at the nation's airports even if the machines compromise privacy, a USA TODAY/Gallup poll finds.

Poll respondents appeared to endorse a Transportation Security Administration plan to install 300 scanners at the nation's largest airports this year to replace metal detectors. The machines, used in 19 airports, create vivid images of travelers under their clothes to reveal plastics and powders to screeners observing monitors in a closed room.

In the poll, 78% of respondents said they approved of using the scanners, and 67% said they are comfortable being examined by one. Eighty-four percent said the machines would help stop terrorists from carrying explosives onto airplanes. The survey was taken Jan. 5-6 of 542 adults who have flown at least twice in the past year.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said that the TSA "should accelerate" the scanners' installation and may buy more than the 300 machines it owns.

Privacy advocates, such as the American Civil Liberties Union have denounced the scanners as an invasion of privacy.

Passengers can opt to be patted down by a screener instead of going through a scanner. Only 22% of poll respondents said they prefer a pat-down to a scan

TSA acting Administrator Gale Rossides said the poll results "demonstrate public understanding" of the need to use the scanners.

For more information, click here.

A newly released Hilton Garden Inn survey conducted by Opinion Research Corp. revealed that when booking a hotel for a “big day”, the majority of Americans surveyed value a comfortable bed just as much as they do like a good hotel rate. More than three fourths of Americans (80 percent) consider the best value for the rate most important, followed by 76 percent who think a comfortable bed is the most important amenity to consider when booking a room.

The survey also revealed Americans consider both personal and business-related “big days” important. The most popular personal occasions involved spending time with others including road trips with family/friends (64%), family reunions (49%), wedding anniversaries (43%), graduation celebrations (42%) and significant other’s birthdays (40%) while trade shows/conventions (35%), job interviews (22%) and client presentations (14%) topped the business-related occasions list.

While Hilton Garden Inn hosts guests for both business and pleasure, the majority of the hotel’s guests check-in for business-related occasions. The survey revealed these business travelers spend a lot of time on the road, averaging at least eight business trips per year. The survey also revealed the following business travel trends:

• Monday is the most frequent night for business travelers to stay overnight
• Female business travelers are more likely than men to miss the comfort of their bed while on the road for business (43% vs. 29%), while men are more likely to miss a home cooked meal (36% vs. 16%)
• Women are more likely than men to enjoy having someone clean up after them (71% vs. 58%), have breakfast made by someone else (62% vs. 49%) and have the bed to themselves (51% vs. 37%)
• Just more than half (53%) of experienced business travelers recommend setting two alarms the day of a big meeting

For more information, click here.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano announced the designation of Greece as a member of the Visa Waiver Program (VWP)—strengthening passenger information sharing and ensuring strict security standards while streamlining travel for Greek citizens visiting the United States.

Greece’s VWP designation represents a major step forward in the continued and long-standing economic and security partnership between the United States and Greece—reflecting more than two years of coordination between the two countries on Greece’s entry into VWP.

In accordance with the VWP designation process, DHS determined that Greece complies with key security and information-sharing requirements—such as enhanced law enforcement and security-related data sharing with the United States; timely reporting of lost and stolen passports; and the maintenance of high counterterrorism, law enforcement, border control, aviation and document security standards. In turn, Greek citizens will be permitted to travel to the United States for up to 90 days without obtaining a visa.

With this announcement, Greece joins the 35 nations already participating in VWP—established as a pilot program in 1986 to help eliminate unnecessary barriers to travel and made permanent on October 30, 2000. Like VWP travelers from other countries, Greek citizens will be required to apply for an Electronic System Travel Authorization (ESTA) through the Web-based system. Greek citizens will be able to visit the United States without visas in approximately 30 days.

For more information, click here.

American Airlines customers departing from select airports can choose to receive their boarding passes electronically on their mobile phones or PDAs, saving time and bypassing the need to print and present a paper boarding pass at the airport. Passengers departing on domestic flights from 19 additional airports now have the option to use mobile boarding passes. New airports added are:

• Albuquerque International (ABQ)
• Charlotte Douglas International (CLT)
• Cleveland Hopkins International (CLE)
• Denver International (DEN)
• El Paso International (ELP)
• Houston George Bush Intercontinental (IAH)
• Jacksonville International (JAX)
• Little Rock Adams Field (LIT)
• Memphis International (MEM)
• New York La Guardia (LGA)
• Oklahoma Will Rogers World (OKC)
• Orlando International (MCO)
• Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX)
• Salt Lake City International (SLC)
• San Antonio International (SAT)
• San Diego International (SAN)
• San Francisco International (SFO)
• Tulsa International (TUL)
• Washington Dulles International (IAD)

…Continental Airlines will begin a codesharing agreement with All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd. (ANA) on routes between the United States and Japan effective March 28. It will be the first time that Continental Airlines has implemented codesharing with a Japanese airline…Between late March and mid-April 2010, a series of new and updated signs will be installed along highways leading to each terminal at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The terminals will be designated numerically, rather than with their historical names. The Lindbergh Terminal will be referred to as Terminal 1 and the Humphrey Terminal will be referred to as Terminal 2. All Delta and Delta Connection partners will continue to operate from Terminal 1-Lindbergh, where they operate today...

in January ’10 decreased to 78.7%, down 0.9 points vs. the running 12 month average of 79.6% and up 6.7 points from December ’09 at 72.0%. To view the USDOT's Bureau of Transportation Statistics' (BTS) Air Travel Consumer Report, click here.

The United States Government has posted recent travel advisories and warnings for Afghanistan, Algeria, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Cote d’lvoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Guinea, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Kenya, Lebanon, Mali, Mauritania, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, and Yemen.