Business travel

The Radisson Blu Jeddah Al Salamah and Park Inn by Radisson Riyadh will open their doors in 2015 and 2016 respectively, once again demonstrating the ambitions of the Carlson Rezidor group in Saudi Arabia.

On the eve of its twentieth anniversary, Eurostar has just completed a particularly successful year in 2013, carrying more than 10 million passengers for the first time in its history.

The Intercontinental Davos hotel opened its doors at the end of December in the Swiss Alps, and is expected to attract a large number of MICE events.

The Accor group is strengthening its position in Berlin by rebranding the Hotel Concorde as a Sofitel. The hotel will be renamed Sofitel Berlin Kurfürstendamm from 1 January.^er February next year. It will have 311 rooms, including 44 suites, as well as sixteen conference areas and a reception hall.

Good news for business travellers: following in the footsteps of Bouygues and SFR, Orange recently announced that it had signed an agreement with RATP to roll out 3G and 4G in the Paris metro and RER.

The Starwood group will be making its debut in Slovenia this year with the opening of the 114-room Four Points by Sheraton Ljubljana Mons hotel, located halfway between the city centre and the Slovenian capital's airport.

Lyria will finally put its Euroduplexes into service on the Paris-Geneva route on 29 December. The new third-generation trains will operate two round trips a day, helping to further improve the quality of business travel between France and Switzerland.

Singapore Airlines has unveiled its new business lounge concept with the inauguration of a refurbished SilverKris lounge.

The first Israeli Ritz Carlton opened its doors on 17 December in Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv.

Ukraine International Airlines is increasing its schedule on the Paris-Kiev route, with the addition of three new direct flights from 27 April 2014.

From the "all-car" to the notion of mobility, from the "bagnole" to car-sharing in electric vehicles, our relationship with the automobile is changing. Welcome to the world of the intelligent car.

Churches, banks, prisons, hospitals: today's hotels recycle old buildings to turn them into design icons. Each hotel tells its own story in a highly contemporary way, offering unique experiences for business travellers.

The new version of the Thalys application now includes a purchase function, enabling business travellers to book their tickets in the four countries covered by the rail network: Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and France.

The Fairmont Nanjing hotel becomes the group's fourth Chinese address in the east of the country.

The SNCF strike on Thursday 12 December is having a particularly heavy impact on the two Paris airports, with an average of one in four RER B trains running. On the other hand, international traffic is normal - with the exception of the Lyria network - with an average of 6 TGVs out of ten running.

The great supersonic thrill or the praise of slowness: the future balances between an airship taking the time to travel the world and a rocket plane crossing it in less than two hours.

Finnair, EasyJet and Gulf Air took the top three places in FlightStats' November rankings for the punctuality of the main airlines. Overall, the punctuality of international carriers has risen slightly compared with October.

The launch of the Paris-Beijing flight next June will mark a real turning point for Aigle Azur, which will be wearing the long-haul identity for the first time. A few months ahead of this major turning point, the airline's Managing Director Cédric Pastour looks back at the importance of this new route, and reviews relations with the Chinese investors of the HNA group and Aigle Azur's roadmap for the coming months.

Rosewood Hotels & Resorts will enter the French market in 2015, when it takes over management of the Hôtel de Crillon in Paris. The American group will then be able to operate an emblematic building of the French hotel industry, and one that has been completely renovated.