CAPA opens World Aviation Summit in Amsterdam with Corporate Travel focus

Global air travel procurements specialists from leading Corporates, including IKEA, Ingersoll Rand, RBS and Unilever gave their perspectives on air procurement as part of their managed travel programmes. The agenda also featured speakers from many of the leaders of the corporate travel industry, including, ATPI, Bouda, Capita Travel and Events, Concur, Conferma, CWT Solutions Group, Deutsche Bahn, Drum Cussac, easyJet, HRG Worldwide, HRS Group Hotel Solutions, KDS, Star Alliance Services GmbH, The Data Exchange, Thalys, Travelport, Voyage Manager and Web in Travel.

Thought leaders included leading business travel commentator, Amon Cohen; Areka Consulting's CEO, Pascal Jungfer; Travel Innovation Partners' Martin Warner and SilverRail Technologies' Alain van West.

CAPA Executive Chairman Peter Harbison at CAPA's Corporate Travel Innovation Summit at the World Aviation Summit on 25-Nov-2013

CAPA also released the preliminary findings of its Corporate Travel Intentions 2014 Survey, which include:

• 21% of respondents believe their spend on air travel will increase by 10% or more in 2014, while a further 33% believe spend will rise by up to 10%. Only 6% believe air travel spend will decrease;
• 56% of respondents believe airline JVs on the Atlantic are negative, resulting in less choice for travellers and less leverage for Corporates at the negotiating table;
• 37% of respondents expect the use of LCCs in their travel programmes to increase in 2014, with just 2% expecting LCC usage to decline;
• 50% of respondents would encourage the use of LCCs for journeys over 5 hours;
• Despite the above, some 54% of respondents said they do not have specific guidelines around the use of LCCs. 31% said their Travel Policies encourage LCC usage where possible, but 15% said their policies discourage LCC use;
• On High Speed Rail (HSR) vs Air, 27% of respondents said that their Travel Policies for journeys 4 hours or less 'sometimes' directs travellers to HSR instead of air. 18% of respondents' policies 'never' direct travellers to HSR while 9% of respondents' policies 'always' direct travellers to HSR over air;
• 46% of respondents expect spending volumes on HSR to increase in 2014 and a similar percentage said it would stay more-or-less the same. Just 9% expect decreasing spending volumes on HSR in 2014.

Pane session What's keeping Travel Executives awake at night? at CAPA's Corporate Travel Innovation Summit at World Aviation Summit on 25-Nov-2013

Panelist from Left to Right: Peter Bost, Director International Network, ATPI'; Vicky Fernandez de Larrea, SVP Benelux & Product Marketing, CWT; Matthew Pancaldi, Head of Client Management, HRG Worldwide; Amon Cohen (session moderator); Michael Hodgson, Head of EMEA and Global Indirect Sourcing Supply Chain Services, RBS; Toby Joseph, Sales Director, easyJet; Johannes Fuhr, Managing Director, Hotel Solutions and Customer Service, HRS Group Hotel Solutions; Fergal Kelly, Vice President, Travel Merchandising and Distribution Solutions, Travelport

The final report will be published in December. Stay tuned to the CAPA website for more information: www.centreforaviation.com

CAPA will run the second annual Corporate Travel Innovation Summit in Europe in November 2014. For dates and information, visit www.centreforaviation.com/events

Notes to Editors:

Established in 1990, CAPA - Centre for Aviation is the leading provider of independent aviation market intelligence, analysis and data services, covering worldwide developments. CAPA's industry research and C-level Summits enable senior executives to stay ahead of trends and well connected in this fast changing, complex and dynamic industry.