Business travel

Air France presented its new medium-haul cabins in Stockholm on Wednesday. More elegant, and enhanced with a hot meal, the new offer should complete the upmarket strategy initiated on the long-haul network. A crucial new asset to win back business customers, for whom Air France is also unveiling the new "Economy Flex" fare.

Air Astana has been operating three flights a week between Paris and Astana since 29 March. The launch of this route is an opportunity for the Kazakh airline to review its strategy.

New aircraft, new destinations, new services: Alcino Ribeiro, Managing Director France of Air Europa, talks about the next stages in the airline's development, particularly in the business travel segment. 

Douala and Malabo are the first two African destinations to be served by the new BEST cabins offered since 7 April on board a Boeing 777-200.

All trains on the Rhônexpress - the shuttle that runs between Lyon-Saint Exupéry airport and the city centre - now offer free Wi-Fi to business travellers arriving in or leaving the capital of the Gauls.

Sophie Stabile has been Chief Financial Officer and a member of the Accor Group Executive Committee since 2010. From the new horizons explored by the French hotel operator through partnerships (China, Australia, Latin America) to the development of the group's brands, not forgetting the digital strategy and the new services that this is bringing, Sophie Stabile provides a comprehensive overview of the Accor group's strategy. Interview.

What are your links with the hotel industry? Dominique Perrault – In recent years, I built a tower in Barcelona that was transformed into a hotel...

ICAO, the international organisation in charge of civil aviation, is questioning the actual safety of Thai airlines, reporting "significant safety concerns in Thailand".

Air France-KLM presented the commercial offer of its Franco-French brand Hop! last Thursday in Lyon. With 27 routes to France and neighbouring countries, Lyon-Saint Exupéry airport is Hop!'s main hub alongside Paris Orly. The capital of the Rhone Valley was therefore the perfect place to unveil an aggressive new range of fares to win back domestic travellers.

Since 2009, hotel occupancy in London has exceeded 80 % year on year, and the spate of new openings has in no way disrupted the healthy state of the market. On the contrary, these hotels, which are often upmarket and very contemporary, only add to the appeal of the British capital.

Caen airport reported a marked increase in results for the first quarter of 2015, with a significant rise in passenger numbers (+17%) compared with the start of 2014. 

Expertmarket has published a study on the cost of business travel around the world. This city-by-city ranking, based in particular on BCD Travel data, is dominated by Caracas. The Venezuelan capital is ahead of Geneva and Stockholm, with Paris in 8th place. 

The heads of Thalys, SNCF and SNCB signed the company's new status in Brussels on Monday. Thalys has become a "fully-fledged rail company", with a new autonomy that should contribute to its efficiency and responsiveness, and thus to the quality of business travel across the entire network. Agnès Ogier, who has been at the helm of Thalys since last December, looks back on this new phase for the company. 

Hong Kong airport is finally going to build a third runway to maintain its status as a hub. There will be a nasty surprise for passengers, who will have to pay an airport tax that will rise by 150% from 2016...

Last year, air traffic in Doha jumped 13% to 26.36 million passengers, 15.7 million of whom passed through the new Hamad International terminal. The new hub officially opened in May 2014, offering an initial capacity of 30 million passengers. However, it is in fact a race against time, as the airport is likely to reach this figure by the end of the year. Hence the announcement by Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker, at his annual press conference in Berlin, that the terminal expansion will come on stream in May.

BCD Travel has published its traditional annual top 10 business travel destinations, which show that Paris remains the most popular destination for Benelux business travellers. London, Brussels and Frankfurt occupy the top three places for French business travellers.  

Réunion airport could become a hub for the Indian Ocean as Air Austral places orders for new leased aircraft. 

Aigle Azur is stepping up the pace on the digital front, with the launch of its brand new mobile site, and the integration of a pre-seating option enabling business travellers to choose their seat before their flight. The next step is the arrival of a mobile application, planned for 2015. 

Even before the Ritz and Crillon, its oldest palaces, reopen in sublime style, a host of new hotels are preparing to conquer Paris.

The arrival of a new CEO, Stephan Pichler, at the head of Airberlin is an opportunity to present yet another restructuring plan, as the carrier has been struggling with financial difficulties for several years.