Bournemouth Airport is owned by Manchester Airports Group, who are investing the money in the airport to build a new terminal and to increase the area for passengers and aircraft. They’re also hoping to install equipment that allows for the management of flights, both outgoing and incoming, in bad weather.

Adam White is the manager of ‘Bath Travel’, who are based in Bournemouth:

There are an increasing number of flights to business destinations leaving from the airport and with this investment we will see the facility consolidate its role within the Business Travel community in the region.

The building work on the airport will commence in the next few weeks, after a failed protest from the New Forest National Park.

Serviced apartments can be cheaper than a lot of hotels, while also providing a better level of living away from home.  Having your own kitchen and front room, as well as more privacy than hotel can only help employees working away from home to cope better with being away for so long.  Serviced apartments can also provide broadband and provide a  laundry and cleaning service to remove the hassle from the employees.

Serviced apartments are definitely here to stay, and provide a wide range of benefits for you average Business Traveller who has to be away from home for more than few days at a time.

• www.travelinsurance.co.uk
• www.columbusdirect.com
• www.acebusinesstravel.com
• www.insureandgo.com

Its only a small list, but the sites mentioned do a very good job at providing travel insurance for business people.

In particular, Columbus currently have some great insurance deals for business travelers, but all companies in the list would be suitable for SME business travelers in the UK.

The energy saving cars have been provided by ‘National Car Rental’ and will be helping the energy company to reduce its carbon footprint.

The cars will be used by SSE in 10 different locations throughout the UK for their staff to use for business travel. The locations to benefit from the 15 cars were selected when the company analysed its use of rental cars in 2007.

Linda Armit is the Facilities Manager for Scottish and Southern Energy.

The addition of the Prius means we will be able to make a significant reduction in the emissions produced by staff on business travel and help ensure we meet our travel policy environmental objectives. Our partnership with National offers us the flexibility to create a rental solution that meets our changing needs and guarantees we optimise the usage of these Prius.

There are two sides to this argument - yes BAA raised fees, but it was within the allowed band by industry watchdogs, as well as this, Ryanair received discounts in the past for using Stansted, but they do not receive the discounts anymore.  However, Ryanair are currently struggling, and these increased fess could push them over the edge, as they are already looking at making a loss for the year due to the high cost of oil.

There is a lot of interesting Business Travel news involving budget airlines at the moment - high oil prices are causing all sorts of issues!

The financial sector has lead the way with several companies adopting very strict green travel plans.  However, its not the fact that its green, its more that its a cost-saving excercise, which you would expect from the financial sector.

Graham Cooper, of Bibby Financial Services said: “Corporate and social responsibility has moved up nearly every business’s agenda over the past few years and it is clear from our research that owners and managers are taking action by reducing the amount of time spent on the road.”

The North East however, falls behind businesses in the Midlands and North West when it comes to adopting new, green, and cheaper Business Travel practices.

Also the rising fuel costs is forcing Welsh businesses to change their policies on meeting with suppliers and clients, with face-to-face meetings being reduced in favour of virtual meetings and conference calls.

The research conducted by Bibby Financial Services shows that 54% of small businesses based in Wales have altered their approach to Business Travel for environmental reasons.

They’ve also found that a third of Welsh businesses have cut down their face-to-face meetings and a quarter of Welsh businesses have abandoned their cars in favour of trains.

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.

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!

It is a worrying sign say some business analysts.  Lots of companies had decided to move even their most prestigious business travelers on budget airlines following price increases from larger companies such as BA, but with smaller companies seemingly looking to increase their own prices to stay in profit, it could be a closed avenue.

Isn’t it time for telepresence, guys?