TRAVEL MANAGEMENT

The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) has appointed the first president of its African branch: Kovilan Naidoo, Travel Manager at Cummins Inc, is taking over as head of the international business travel association in a rapidly changing market.

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.

While the majority of business travel players are looking to 2014, AirPlus is looking (much) further ahead and is already projecting itself into... 2060. Socio-economic and environmental contexts, transport infrastructures, new technologies, new practices, and changes in the 'travel manager' profession: the Business Travel 2060 white paper, written by Mark Harris on behalf of the specialist in means of payment, compiles on around thirty pages the various changes that the business travel sector is likely to face over the next fifty years.

Gift boxes and gourmet dinners, wine discoveries and cookery classes, a host of epicurean challenges: gourmet rewards are still a sure thing!

As the boundaries between work and personal life become increasingly blurred, hotels will continue their lifestyle transformation. With recipes that are already proving successful: cutting-edge design, the latest technology and striking architecture.

Rainer von Wrede is Head of Engineering and Environmental R&T at Airbus.

Miguel Prosper is President of the French Federation of Insect Producers, Importers and Breeders.

Reporting will be the most crucial aspect of a travel programme according to European and American travel managers. Cost control is also the focus of attention for business travel players around the world. These are just some of the conclusions to be drawn from the study "The Evolution of Business Travel Management" published on Tuesday 26 November by Egencia and the GBTA Foundation.

According to American Express Business Travel's Meetings & Events department, 2014 will see a stagnation in the MICE (Meetings, Incentive, Convention, Events) segment.

Over the last ten years or so, private concierge services have proliferated on the French market, attracting the traditional players in business travel. Their credo: a tailor-made business trip, without constraints or nasty surprises, and enhanced by top-of-the-range services.

In a few weeks' time, 3mundi and Frequent Flyer Travel Paris will be launching a holding company to pool their resources and skills and strengthen their position in the French business travel market. Jordy Staelen, Managing Director of 3mundi, talks about the objectives of this project.

The cost of business travel in Europe is set to rise slightly in 2014 according to American Express, which has just published its traditional "Forecast", market by market.

David Amsellem is Chairman of John Paul.

Business travel agency BCD Travel is expanding in Brazil via a joint venture with Avipam, a Brazilian agency with which TMC has already had a privileged relationship since 2007. By acquiring a stake in Avipam, BCD Travel is taking a new step forward in a particularly promising market.

Le 9^th he Business Confidence Index published on 17 October by Regus anticipates a decline in business travel in France. More than a third of the professionals surveyed are considering reducing their business travel over the next twelve months.

A member of the GBTA (Global Business Travel Association) for the past four years, Carole Poillerat has just been confirmed as President of GBTA France: a new player in the French business travel world, but a benchmark on an international scale and more particularly in the United States. Carole Poillerat and the board of GBTA France intend to draw on the network, expertise and resources of the global association to contribute to the development of the French market.