Holiday News
European Airline Traffic June ( 6th July 2009 )
Ryanair set a monthly traffic record in June 2009, carrying 5.84m passengers. This was 13% more than in June 2008 and beat the previous record of 5.7m set in August 2008.
The June figures took the airline’s rolling 12-month total to 60.2m, also a record, putting it on course to carry 67m passengers across 2009.
Load factor averaged 85% in June, up one percentage point, and 82% on a rolling 12-month basis.
In a statement Ryanair said the June figures meant that it carried twice as many passengers as BA, the " former world's favourite airline ".
BA saw passenger numbers decline by 4.9% year-on-year to 2.93m last month, with traffic in revenue passenger kilometres falling 3.8%.
The traffic decline comprised a 14.9% plunge in premium and a 1.3% fall in non-premium. Capacity was cut by just 1pp, however, depressing load factor by 1.8pp to 79.6%.
BA said that in response to the " challenging economic conditions ", it had reviewed its business plan. Capacity for summer 2009 is now expected to be down 3.5% year-on-year, versus 2.5% previously, and for winter 2009 / 10 down 5%, versus 4% previously.
The airline will ground its remaining three mainline Boeing 757 aircraft in summer 2010 and a further three B747-400s in winter 2010 / 11.
Meanwhile, the delivery schedule for its first six Airbus A380 superjumbos has been extended by an average of five months, although the first is still due in 2012. The schedule for its remaining six A380s has been extended by an average of two years, with the final one arriving in 2016.
BA has also cut its forecast capital expenditure from £ 725m to £ 580m for 2009 / 10, and it " is likely to remain at that level in 2010 / 11 ".
Finally, the airline is targeting 3,700 jobs cuts in the current financial year, in addition to the reduction of about 2,500 achieved between June 2008 and March 2009.
Elsewhere easyJet carried 4.15m passengers last month, 0.8% more than in June 2008, taking its rolling 12-month total to 44.53m ( +7.9% ).
June load factor slipped 0.6pp to 86.3%, while on a rolling 12-month basis it averaged 85.2% ( +1.9pp ).
Source : Travel & Hospitality Digest. www.e-tid.com
Heathrow's 3rd Runway ( 16th January 2009 )
Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon announced yesterday that the Government was proceeding with plans for a third runway and a new terminal at Heathrow Airport, both of which should be operational by 2015-2020.
But he rejected the interim option of switching Heathrow to mixed-mode operations, with departures and arrivals performed on the same runway, due to strong objections from local residents.
Commenting on Hoon’s announcement VisitBritain executive chairman, Christopher Rodrigues, said : " Tourism means jobs and this is a very positive decision for Britain's tourism industry. St Pancras and Terminal 5 have shown how valuable it is to get the right infrastructure for domestic and international travel.
These proposals will make Britain's fifth biggest industry - tourism - even more competitive and offer all tourists better access to the whole of
Britain ".
Mary Rance, UKinbound chief executive, said: " We only need to look to recent surveys of international travellers, who on many occasions vote Heathrow as their least favourite airport, to realise that the extra capacity is essential to match the level of service found elsewhere in Europe. The third runway will also reduce the number of aircraft currently circling the skies above London waiting to land and polluting the skies while they are at it.
The additional incentive for only aircraft meeting tight emission standards to be allocated the increased landing slots will mean fewer carbon emissions from aviation in the long-run.
As a major international hub and a gateway into the UK and Europe, Heathrow’s development is vital to safeguarding the many jobs and other economic benefits that it brings ".
Mark Tanzer, ABTA chief executive, said : " Heathrow has received a barrage of criticism over recent years for poor customer service much of which is directly attributable to its operating at near peak capacity.
A new runway will help address this problem.
Any new development must come with strict environmental controls and I am delighted that the Government has factored this in. However, I am disappointed that the use of mixed mode has been rejected as this system can radically improve the flow of aircraft ".
Simon Hargreaves, managing director, Travel Trust Association and TTA Worldchoice, said : " We welcome the Government’s decision. However, looking forward the industry needs to work out strategies to reduce the growth in air travel and recognise that not to do so would be damaging to both the planet and our future business opportunities ".
Finally, responsibletravel.com said a survey of 900 of its tour operator and accommodation members worldwide found 75% were against the third runway.
Managing director, Justin Francis, added: " It's a myth that everyone in the tourism industry backs an expansion. We should be focusing on flying less, and improving the benefits of existing international tourism to local communities and conservation, not on flying more ".
Source : Travel & Hospitality Digest. www.e-tid.com
EasyJet to reign in expenditure ( 15th January 2009 )
EasyJet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou will spend the next few weeks ahead of the carrier’s annual meeting on 6th of February campaigning to rein in capital expenditure and focusing on the airline’s order for 109 Airbus aircraft. He says the airline is using its fleet less efficiently than its passenger statistics suggest.
Mourning the loss of his father, shipping magnate Loucas Haji-Ioannou who died just before Christmas, he admits making some mistakes in his career such as rushing ahead with a chain of internet cafes (Mail).
Source : Travel & Hospitality Digest. www.e-tid.com
Company stability now " as important as price " ( 22nd December 2008 )
Holidaymakers are becoming more cautious when booking, and seeking out stable, established travel brands, ccording to a new survey. The downturn and recent collapse of several airlines and holiday companies is driving this trend, according to Global Reviews, a customer experience benchmarking company.
Bertie Stevenson, Global Reviews director, said : " When booking their holiday, customers are now just as concerned about the stability of the company as they are in the price. They plan to be more careful in the future but are still happy to continue to research and book their holidays online. "
Expedia was the most popular website for researching holidays with two thirds (66%) of the customers visiting the website, and over half (52%) going on to buy.
lastminute.com (56%) was the second most popular holiday website for researching holidays, followed by Thomas Cook (50%), Thomson (44%), ebookers (35%), Opodo (20%), Travelocity (19%) and Trailfinders (13%).
When choosing which holiday websites to visit, 49% use the same ones they have always used and 44% use a search engine to find the holiday they are looking for.
The looming recession and spate of collapses have led seven in ten people (69%) to change the way they book their travel.
The Global Review study of 1,000 web users also found that :
- 27% now check that their travel insurance will cover them before booking;
- 38% are more careful about the companies they book through ; and
- 27% have not changed the way they book as they only ever use established companies.
The results mirror another Global Reviews survey which looked at customer experience online and found that Expedia came top and lastminute.com was second.
Monarch reports early booking trend ( 19th November 2008 )
Second homeowners are keeping key flight routes buoyant with early bookings for summer 2009, according to Monarch. The carrier is reporting year-on-year bookings up 43%, which MD Liz Savage attributed to people are being more organised this year and booking their summer holidays much earlier than they have previously to take advantage of the low fares currently available in the market. She added : " Destinations that are particularly buoyant for next summer are the Canary Islands, Cyprus and Malaga, all of which are popular second home markets with owners undoubtedly utilising their own properties rather than looking to spend money on holidays elsewhere. " In a recent online poll conducted by Monarch, 77% of respondents said the credit crunch would not impact the number of times they plan to fly next year.
The poll, which ran on monarch.co.uk between Friday 24 October and Monday 10 November 2008, asked : " Has the credit crunch affected your flying habits ? " Of the 1,104 respondents, 36% said " not at all ", 22% said they would fly less, while 41% said they would still fly but spend less.
Savage added : " The results of our online survey are contradictory to the current situation in the economy. "
Source : Travel & Hospitality Digest. www.e-tid.com
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