decision-maker

Your new airline JOON will soon be taking off. How do you plan to ramp it up? Franck Terner - Joon's first flights are planned very soon, as of the winter season, to Barcelona, Berlin, Lisbon and Porto with six aircraft. We will continue with long-haul flights in the spring-summer 2018 season. Between now and 2020, we...

Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, Doha: does your Connect 2020 plan aim to make Paris-Charles de Gaulle the equal of these global benchmarks? Augustin de Romanet - The key point is that year after year, we are making progress in terms of welcome and quality of service. Over the last two years, Paris-Charles de Gaulle has...

Air France-KLM is living in a very different environment today than it did in the past. What strategy do you intend to put in place to survive in this context? Jean-Marc Janaillac - Let me start by saying how proud I am to be joining the Air France-KLM Group at a key stage in its history, at a time when the decisions that will be taken should enable it to regain its place...

There is a lot of talk about the growing influence of Chinese groups in the hotel industry. What role has your main shareholder Jin Jiang played in the development of Louvre Hotels? Françoise Houdebine: Jin Jiang has taken us into another dimension. This takeover gives us growth levers for Campanile and Golden Tulip, the two brands on the Louvre Hotels...

Christophe Peymirat, Senior Vice President Europe and Middle East, Egencia What is the trend in the business travel market? Christophe Peymirat: In 2015, the market held up well until the events of November, after which business travellers restricted their trips for about a month. In 2016, there was no...

How is easyJet faring, having just celebrated its 20th anniversary? Sébastien Calmejane - Very well. In 20 years, we've gone from two aircraft to 250, making us Europe's fourth-largest airline with 68 million passengers. We serve a total of 137 airports in 31 countries. This year, the increase in traffic...

What are Air France's next major projects? Frédéric Gagey - The roadmap is clear: finalise the pilots' part of the Transform 2015 plan and negotiate, then roll out Perform 2020 for all categories of staff. In addition to the work on costs and efficiency gains, the Group has identified three key areas of focus...

How far have you got with the redevelopment of Eurostar's stations? Mikaël Lemarchand - We are working on our facilities to make them as functional and pleasant as possible. Eurostar has launched an ambitious programme to transform its station areas to improve the experience of all its customers, particularly business customers. The opening in...

Accor has recently signed a major partnership with the Huazhu group in China. What are your expectations? Sophie Stabile - We have signed a long-term partnership with Huazhu that is unprecedented in the hotel sector. Huazhu is a leading Chinese hotel group with very rapid growth! Thanks to this...

How did your career path lead you to become General Manager of American Express Business Travel for France, Belgium and the Netherlands? Guillaume Col - I like challenges. My career has been essentially focused on developing the business, sometimes from scratch. The American Express brand is an extremely powerful asset in the...

How has Carlson Rezidor gone from being a Nordic operator to a major player in Europe in just fifteen years? Eric de Neef - If Radisson Blu is now one of the leading brands in the top-of-the-range segment, with 220 establishments in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, it's thanks to a winning recipe,...

In 2015, Thalys International will be celebrating its twentieth anniversary. What has changed in two decades? Franck Gervais - For a long time, we were identified with our initial core business, which was to offer a link between Paris and Brussels in 1 hour 22 minutes, compared with 2 hours 40 minutes previously. But this is no longer the case. Over the last few years, we have...

Since you took over as head of Sofitel, what has been your biggest challenge? Robert Gaymer-Jones - Changing the perception of the Sofitel brand around the world. Seven years ago, the Accor group was internationally recognised for its budget and mid-range hotels, but not yet in the field of...

How do you see business hotel reservations developing in France? Stéphane de Laforcade - Companies suffer from a total lack of visibility on hotel expenditure, despite it being the second largest budget in business travel. This trend can be explained by the multiplicity of sources of supply, including business travel agencies, self-booking tools, the Internet,...

What is oneworld's position in the French business travel market? José María Alvarado - There are opportunities for business travel in key markets, of which France is of course one. In fact, we want to increase our presence there to be even more competitive. It's a market where...

In a few words: why your Transform 2015 modernisation plan? Alexandre de Juniac - To enable Air France to regain its competitiveness, but also to reposition its offer at the best world level. This means overhauling our organisation and operating methods in order to reduce our costs and...

What are you expecting from the 34th IFTM Top Resa? We have decided to play the Top Resa card this year, with a stand and a high level of activity at the show. The challenge will be to see if the event really attracts a flow of corporate contacts. But it is important for our...

When it comes to business travel, what new destination in China is Finnair offering? Stéphanie Garnier: Finnair already serves Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong, and is now adding a fourth destination: Chongqing, with four flights a week. Some 1,500 km from Shanghai, this port city is a major employment centre and a major source of...

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Accor group in the US market? Cédric Gobilliard - What I explain to American travel buyers is that with Accor, of course they are choosing a product, a brand, but above all the leader in the world, outside the United States. Above all, Americans expect safety, security and...

Lyon, Marseille, Amsterdam, Cologne, Frankfurt, Geneva among others: Eurostar has just announced the possible opening of around ten new destinations in the next two to five years. What are the reasons for this? Mikaël Lemarchand - There is a real appetite for rail travel in Europe. The switch between rail and air is changing. There are...