The recession has affected everyone in the world, from single mothers on a budget to millionaire businessmen. The recession has now also affected private jet travel as business executives have been forced to swap their private jets for economy class travel aboard airlines.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has revealed that use of private jets has fallen by 20% in just 6 months as the recession has taken hold of the most elite of sectors.

The UK was the fastest growing market in the world for luxury air travel, but the (more…)

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With electricity prices on the rise in the UK, Scottish and Southern Energy are making moves to both save money and the environment at the same time by using a fleet of fifteen Toyota Prius’s for their business travel around the UK. (more…)

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Businesses in Wales are going green to help save the environment when it comes to organising their business travel, according to recent research. In an effort to reduce their impact on the environment they’re encouraging their employees to use their bicycles, share cars and even use their own two feet to get around. (more…)

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Flybe, one of the largest Regional Airlines claims to have invested over 2 million in the last year in an attempt to attract more business travellers.  They have opened 8 new executive lounges over the past year, with the latest being at Newcastle airport.  These lounges, for their economy plus customers provide free wifi as well as refreshments.

They are also working on their check in process, expanding the options available to their passengers.  You can already check in online, or at one of many self service kiosks at the airport.  They are also planning on introducing mobile phone check in facilities shortly.

Flybe say that they will not be as affected by the soaring costs of fuel as some other airlines, as they use aircraft that are a lot more fuel efficient than most other airlines.  Their main plane, the Bombardier Q400, costs about half of what a Boeing 737 costs to run, but is as quick.

With price increase everywhere, this could be a good time for business travellers to start looking at Flybe for their flights.

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British Airways and the Spanish airline Iberia are currently holding talks about a possible merger.  The brands would be kept separate, but both airlines would become part of the same group, allowing them to cut costs.  Interestingly, British Airways currently owns 13.2% of Iberia, while Iberia own 2.99% of British Airways.

If the merger did go ahead, it is expected that BA would concentrate on the Middle and Far East, while Iberia would look more towards South America and Africa.  Virgin Atlantic have voiced some concerns, the main ones being that this would mean less competition and therefore less choice for consumers, and that the two combined airlines would control about half of all take off and landing slots at Heathrow.

Obviously with fuel prices the way they are at the moment, it is unlikely that any savings made if the merger did go ahead would be passed onto us: the business travellers, but you never know!

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EasyJet have announced that they are going to be cutting back on their planned fleet increase, due to high fuel costs and a decrease in demand for flights.

EasyJet, who is Europe’s second largest no-frills airline, has halved it’s expansion plans and is also going to reduce its capacity by 12% at Stansted, one of EasyJet’s largest bases. They have also not ruled out a capacity freeze next year after they receive a delivery of 18 Airbus A319 planes. They also have the ability to scale back their capacity from where it currently is if required.

Ryanair have also halted their aggressive expansion plans, and have removed 12 planes from Stansted, and closed 7 European Bases. They are reducing their fleet by about 10% for the winter.

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All across the UK, business travelers are scaling back their usual traveling to and from meetings and potential clients in a bid to save money following several price hikes.

With air travel from cities such as Leeds to London totally out of the question, even train fairs are being looked at in great detail now before they are signed off.

Some small businesses that service the business travel sector have already decided to pack their bags and move to other revenue streams following negative comments from business-travel airlines, who themselves face a torrid few years at least.

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Hotel chain, Marriott is worried that the decreased activity of business travellers will affect its business in heavy terms.

Already, it states, business is down, to the tune of a $20m deficit in the past 3 months compared to the months before.

With shares dropping by 25% also this year, its not a good time for the industry they state – especially those chains that rely heavily on business travel.

The rising oil price, airline capacity cuts and weak US consumer confidence are all starting to affect hotel groups, which withstood the economic downturn in the early months of 2008. (more…)

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We all have our favourite locations for doing business, and Australians are no different. According to the Australian travel site Wotif.com, Australian businessmen and women prefer Melbourne to any other Australian destination for doing business.

Over 730 travellers completed a survey relating to business trips within Australia, and almost a third (33%) said that Melbourne was their preferred destination. Only 27% declared Sydney the premium location for business trips, with Brisbane and Perth trailing in third and fourth place respectively. (more…)

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One of the main issues that business people have with travelling by plane over long distances is the fact that they are disconnected from their business for long periods of time. No Blackberry, no Internet, nothing. Hopefully this situation won’t be common for much longer – there are a couple of bits of good news for all those who fly a lot (or even at all!). (more…)

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