Business travel

This may well be the end of a model that is booming in Asia: long-haul low-cost airlines. According to information published by the Malaysian daily Business Times, Air Asia X is planning to discontinue services to four destinations, including Paris, due to a lack of profitability.

This week Air Caraïbes announced the opening of bookings for flights on its new transatlantic route between Paris Orly and Santo Domingo.

The strike that has been affecting French airports since Friday is set to continue on Tuesday, and even grow in scale. Nice and Mulhouse airports could join the strike.

Online travel agency ebookers is launching a new Hotels application aimed at business travellers with an iPhone.

The Mint Hotel in Amsterdam becomes the first of eight Mint hotels based in England and the Netherlands to join the Hilton Worldwide portfolio.

Kingfisher Airlines will join the oneworld network on Friday 10 February 2012, according to information made official today by the alliance.

The strike action launched on Friday by airport security staff has been renewed this Monday. It particularly affects Lyon airport, where 30% of flights were due to be cancelled according to forecasts by Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, the French Minister for Ecology and Transport.

B&B hotels has opened a new establishment in the Portuguese capital, in a famous historic building.

Cathay Pacific recently inaugurated its new First and Business Class lounge at San Francisco International Airport.

A report entitled "The Airport of the Future" has attempted to imagine the main changes in air traffic by 2025. Check-in counters, hold baggage and other airport shops will be a thing of the past, according to the authors, who see this as a sine qua non for the smooth flow of ever-increasing numbers of passengers.

Since 14 December, American Airlines has been offering Samsung Galaxy 10.1 tablets to passengers travelling in Premium and Business cabins on certain domestic flights.

US hotels are set to enjoy two positive years overall, in terms of both demand and rates, according to forecasts published by PKF Hospitality Research: good news for professionals in the sector, but a less cheerful outlook for business travellers, who are likely to see their bills rise.

This Thursday, Etihad begins its flights to Chengdu airport in China. Four weekly services are scheduled by the airline.

The Brazilian authorities have just given the go-ahead for the merger between South American airlines TAM Brazilian and LAN Chile to create the LATAM Airlines group.

In the run-up to the strike by Iberia pilots scheduled for Sunday, the Spanish airline has been forced to cancel 32% of its flights.

Hotel prices in Europe fell with the temperatures in December, according to the Trivago index published this week. The barometer shows an average drop of 3% in Europe.

After Lyon Saint Exupéry airport, Europcar is launching its Car Choice service at Nice airport. Business travellers can now collect their vehicle directly, without having to go to a branch. Other airports should see the service arrive in 2012.

A small revolution is underway in the cockpit: American Airlines has just obtained the green light from the American authorities to equip its pilots with iPad tablets, replacing the bulky paper documents used until now.