British Airway's new Premium Lounge was opened on Monday in terminal 3. The new lounge will be for the use of travellers in Business and First Class, as well as top tier Oneworld members travelling to Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga, Helsinki and Vienna will have access to the 300 seat Galleries Club Lounge. The facility will also provide free Wi-Fi throughout, for Business Travellers on the go, in addition to work and entertainment zones. A second lounge seating 250, for First Class travellers, will open later this year to coincide with the transfer of flights to Sydney, Singapore and Bangkok currently operating from terminal 4.
Etihad Airways, following a $70 million investment in upgrading their fleet, unveiled its new First Class cabin suite at this year's Arabian Travel Market. The new first class cabin consists of 12 individual suites, each with 80.5 inch flatbed with built in massagers, lumbar support and power sockets for extra comfort and convenience. Also within each suite you have an integrated wardrobe, minibar and a 23 inch LCD with 600 hours of on-demand entertainment, all within the privacy of each suite as they are equipped with sliding doors.
The Swine Flu outbreak in Mexico City which has affected many Corporates and all manners of Business', seems to be, according to local sources, in a situation of containment. Business travel will soon resume, with Initial fears of the virus spreading beyond control globally seems to have quelled, with most countries having contingency measure in place if the situation should worsen.
Corporate travel should be at the forefront of companies budgets. The current economy should be used as a house-keeping exercise in ensuring that you are getting the most from your Travel Management Company (TMC). Business travel across the board should be seen as a commodity and as such should be dealt with protocols to ensure your companies long term survival with optimised results from your business travel agent. Whether you intend to procure business or economy class travel, companies should ensure their providers become partner suppliers, and in doing so will result in a better understanding of your company culture for better long term results.
Business travel to Mexico City and surrounding areas should be defferred as travel to Mexico City is being advised against by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Also corporates should anticipate business closures and travel restrictions within the infected areas due to the nature of the epedemic. We recommend all but essential travel only to be undertaken to the affected areas, and also to surrounding regions where monitoring of the disease is poor to none and healthcare difficult to obtain.
Airfare taxes are set to doublle now the Government are to go ahead with their plans to increase Air Passenger Duty tax (APD). Despite many protests from the travel industry, taxes are again to rise sharply for the second time in 2 years. The increase in taxes will affect longhaul flights and premium tickets heavily; where for example the tax on an economy ticket to Australia was £40.00, this will now increase to £85.00 per ticket by the end of next year - this is 4 times the rate in 2007 when the duty was only £20.00.
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