The BTA’s Post

  Knowing so many of our agency partners work with SMEs of all shapes and sizes, it is important to support them in taking their business travel a step further by joining bluebiz today and being able to take advantage of the benefits.   Bluebiz is the Air France-KLM loyalty programme for SMEs. The programme offers its clients blue credits, which are accumulated from each ticket purchase in the UK with Air France, KLM, Delta Airlines and Virgin Atlantic. Blue credits can act in the place of cash when it comes to booking a flight – as long as the member has the correct amount of credits, they can utilise them to get a flight completely free.   A bluebiz member can expect to enjoy benefits such as more flexible ticketing deadlines and the option to change the name of the traveller, if needed. Full flight? Travellers have a guaranteed seat in Economy Class on long haul flights, and can also get priority boarding. Furthermore, if a traveller is a member of the Air France-KLM individual loyalty programme, they can earn Flying Blue miles while their company earns blue credits.   Find out more: https://lnkd.in/gCmMgGAD #airfrance #klm #delta #virginatlantic #businesstravel #bluebiz  

British Airways' parent company, IAG, has achieved its highest-ever annual profits, capitalizing on the surge in travel demand following the pandemic. The group's operating profits soared to €3.5 billion last year, doubling from the previous year. CEO highlighted that the group's capacity is now nearly back to pre-pandemic levels. With revenues reaching €29.4 billion, the results demonstrate the broader aviation industry's recovery, not just limited to budget airlines like Ryanair and EasyJet. #IAGSuccess #TravelDemand #RecordProfits

Love it, sometimes you need to pivot your strategy and business model, gutsy but Icelandair is very competitive these days under Bain Co, just like Virgin Australia, Bain Co wants to see big profits. So pivot to Southern Europe and and away from North America, and if my memory is good, Play just expanded PLAY Connect with easyJet in a new partnership! --------------------------------- PLAY Airlines has announced plans to reduce its capacity to North America as part of a strategic shift in its business model. The low-cost Icelandic carrier currently serves five destinations in North America—Boston (BOS), Baltimore/Washington (BWI), Washington Dulles (IAD), New York Stewart (SWF), and Hamilton (YHM). However, the airline intends to scale back these routes as it pivots its focus toward connecting Southern Europe with Iceland. The move marks a departure from PLAY’s initial strategy of providing convenient layovers in Iceland for passengers travelling between North America and Europe. Going forward, the airline will concentrate more on linking Southern European markets with Iceland, tapping into the growing demand for these routes. This restructuring comes as PLAY looks to refine its position in an increasingly competitive transatlantic market, where it had previously sought to attract budget-conscious travellers connecting through Reykjavik. Details regarding which specific North American routes will be cut or reduced have yet to be confirmed.

Improving business processes one line at a time.

Something for you to think about over the weekend 🤔 "You can't swing through the jungle holding two vines" a quote dropped at a mastermind day with Helen Tudor last year. I now quote this all the time when discussing strategy with clients. You need to pick a direction and not straddle two different strategies. For instance, there's really only two strategies you can pursue... 👉 Cost leadership 👉 Differentiation Are you going to position yourself as the cost leader in your market? Or will you go for premium but lead on delivering exceptional service and identify what sets you apart and makes you unique? You could argue... "well, we can be the cheapest AND the best in our industry". This is exceptionally rare. Look at the airline industry as an example ✈️ British Airways (Differentiation strategy) ➡️ Best take off / landing time slots ➡️ City based airports ➡️ Give free snacks and drinks on flights ➡️ Gates usually close to terminal (no buses) ✈️ Easyjet (Cost leadership) ➡️ Late night / early morning slots ➡️ Airports far out of major cities ➡️ Charge for 'extras' ➡️ Gates usually far from terminal needing buses Now, that doesn't mean that Easyjet don't strive to provide great service, but they don't lead on that, they lead on price. Similarly BA don't lead on price, they lead on their brand and differentiation strategy of exceptional service and offering, but still try and create good value. They just don't lead on price. Imagine if Easyjet tried the 'swing through the jungle holding both the strategic vines' - they couldn't do it, you can't be the cheapest but offer a premium service, the CFO would have a heart attack!! 😲 So, which are you? You need to pick one and lead on that. You shouldn't straddle both. It will end in failure.

A big piece of news for Scandinavian travelers, as SAS - Scandinavian Airlines starts it's move to the SkyTeam alliance. Interesting to see how this affects travel patterns in Scandinavia, and the emergence of Copenhagen Airports A/S as an even bigger regional hub for Skyteam!

Virgin Australia will add a new Platinum Plus tier to its Velocity Frequent Flyer program to match Qantas Loyalty's Platinum One tier (the highest tier in Qantas’ frequent flyer scheme which gives members access to a dedicated service team, the best lounges and the best seats for themselves and their family). The changes to Velocity will make it harder for some flyers to accrue points and are targeted at members buying more expensive tickets. Velocity is also adding “forever gold" from October next year - a lifetime gold tier matching the equivalent Qantas Loyalty offering if they accrue 12,000 credits, 9000 of which must have been earned from flying on Virgin-marketed flights. Velocity and it's 12 million members contributed the bulk of Virgin’s growth in earnings in the year to June with Velocity now focused on driving more engagement and getting members active. ... 🔹 Loyalty Central is a unit of Ellipsis & Company; the loyalty experts. 🔹Sign up here for Loyalty Central's monthly loyalty market update, a "just the facts" summary of all the news (including this piece) https://bit.ly/4ckAcXw

𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐀𝐢𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐒𝐞𝐞𝐬 𝐒𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐒𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐧𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐬, 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 £𝟐.𝟑 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 The owner of British Airways, International Airlines Group (IAG), has reported strong profits for the year 2023, driven by sustained demand for leisure travel. Read More: https://bityl.co/OUMV #britishairways #airwaysnews #airways #annualprofit #news #NewsUpdate #BusinessNews #businessnewsupdates #newsdaily #businessnewsdaily

We firmly believe software in the travel industry is outdated and in need of an overhaul to better serve both travel providers and their customers. British Airways’ recent decision to invest £7bn into improving its problem areas, many of which are caused by ageing IT systems, highlights one of the issues in the travel industry we are fighting to fix. Read more here: https://bit.ly/48OKUUM   #travel #traveltech

𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐀𝐢𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐒𝐞𝐞𝐬 𝐒𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐒𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐀𝐧𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐬, 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 £𝟐.𝟑 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 The owner of British Airways, International Airlines Group (IAG), has reported strong profits for the year 2023, driven by sustained demand for leisure travel. Read More: https://bityl.co/OUMV #britishairways #airwaysnews #airways #annualprofit #news #NewsUpdate #BusinessNews #businessnewsupdates #newsdaily #businessnewsdaily