The Economist does it again

Fly True

Purple Crocodiles and Air Travel

In the Netherlands there is a new term that has passed into the vernacular.
It's called the "Purple Crocodile" after a well publicized event when an
officious public service employee refused to hand back a child's stuffed
animal because of "policy". Now both Dutch politicians and judges are
adopting different methods to eliminate "Purple Crocodiles" from the legal
and administrative system. IE an aggressive push to eradicate nonsensical
rules from the everyday life of its citizens.

(OK so you don't think we are telling the truth! Click here )

I am sure that in our industry we can think of many of them. WOW where do we start in Airline pricing?

Timothy

Boeing is not Ford - some musings

So Alan Mulally has decided to jump ship to take on one of the biggest and
sickest companies in the world. I am sure he is going to get a bucket (make
that a backhoe's worth) of cash.

So interesting to speculate on why he made the jump and why now. Given the
stellar amount of sales by Boeing's salespersons over the last 3 years
particularly the 787 - it seems unlikely that the same achievement can be
replicated beyond what is on the books now - so quit at the top of your
game. Or could it be something more sinister - like an impending delay for
the 787's very aggressive delivery schedule. Some could be very cynical and
argue that perhaps Boeing's salespersons fudged delivery dates in order to
keep out the competing Airbus A350.

With Boeing's production lines now based on a moving line system and being
managed by former Toyota folks - it seems that turnabout is fair play that
they should get an aircraft salesman to run what was once the world's
largest car Marque.

While the US car industry and Ford's troubles are well documented and so
obvious a monkey could fix them, I am going to be very skeptical that an
Airplane driver sales guy can fix them. I just hope that Alan M has the
smarts to hire in some good people and then work at slashing the bloated
payroll that dogs Ford and others of its ilk. I hope he realizes that the
much vaunted second turnaround at Chrysler has never really happened.
Mercedes while trying to follow the US model of buying as many Marques as
they could realized that actually buying a dog leaves you with - well a dog.
Nevertheless they decided to see if they could build their own dog with
someone else's brand - SMART move guys.

So do we have a lesson here that applies to Travel? Yes. several:

1. Size isn't everything (so don't believe the UK Renault ads!)
2. It is very easy to screw up a brand and you can do it very quickly too.
3. Listen to your customers. And KEEP listening - day in and day out
4. Watch your overhead
5. Compromise costs money
6. As Mims says - staying in your comfort zone never begets winners

However I still think that the lesson I want to take away from watching the
shenanigans in the Auto Industry is that TIME COSTS MONEY. In a closed
market you can delay - particularly when your competitor is already on the
ropes. The car industry is way more competitive. Remember that the consumer
always has one other choice. He can choose NOT to buy that shiny new car.
For us who are providing services to our industry of choice - we have to
remember that and be humble. The decision can always be to wait or not to do
it at all. Let's make sure that we do the right things right, all the time.

Oh yes and my prediction - if Alan M is still at the helm of Ford in 3 years
I will make a donation to charity in his name.

Timothy

In case anyone missed it

Assessing VCs continued interest in niche online travel segment

Venture capitalists have sustained their interest and investment in niche
offerings... - (8/28/2006)

Venture capitalists have sustained their interest and investment in niche
offerings, focusing on segments such as luxury vacations and short-term
rental homes.

According to wsj.com, while websites such as Expedia and Travelocity Inc.
are pulling in the bulk of online travel sales, "venture capitalists are
placing their newest bets on niche markets such as luxury vacations and
short-term rental homes".

"A boatload of venture capital has sailed into the online travel market
recently, with start-ups including LeisureLink Inc., Viator Inc., Luxury
Link LLC and Gusto LLC raising more than $40 million this summer alone," the
report says.

Among the ventures highlighted, LeisureLink is an electronic marketplace for
booking vacation rental properties. "We source inventory from both the
vacation rental and timeshare industry, giving the broadest possible
selection of premium inventory for our customers," states Kelly Tompkins,
president and founder, LeisureLink Inc. on the homepage of the site,
leisurelink.com.

It connects owners of substantial inventories of vacation rental properties
with broad distribution networks, including traditional GDS and online
travel agencies. In May this year, LeisureLinkannounced the closing of its
five million dollar "Series B" round of venture capital from Mission
Ventures and Clearstone Venture Partners.

In June this year, Viator (www.viator.com), the world's largest online
resource for tours and activities, raised an additional $4 million through
its current investors, Carlyle Venture Partners, the US venture and growth
capital arm of Washington D.C.-based The Carlyle Group, and Sydney-based
Technology Venture Partners. This financing follows the $6 million raised
from the same investors in November 2005.

Allan Thygesen, managing director of Carlyle Venture Partners and a member
of the Viator board had then commented, "The online travel sector is poised
for continued growth, specifically in two key areas that bode well for
Viator -- global markets yet to capitalise on the retail power of the
internet for purchasing travel, and the advance-purchase activities arena.
With more than 3,500 affiliates around the world and the ability to complete
transactions in multiple currencies, Viator is seizing a largely untapped
market opportunity as the preferred global resource for consumers to
research and book trip activities before they travel."

Unlike many destination sites that aggregate content from various sources,
Viator is not a paid listing or advertising site. Viator's activities are
provided by reputable local operators, hand-selected by the company's
in-house travel experts, who routinely review and validate these activities
for quality of experience, overall value and superior service.

Among others, founded in 1997, Luxury Link is an online luxury travel
resource. Showcasing more than 1000 extraordinary hotels and resorts,
cruises, tours and villas in more than 60 countries, Luxury Link provides
access to exclusive offers and insider tips for the sophisticated traveler.

Timothy O'Neil-Dunne

On the Demise of Connexion by Boeing

This is going to be really sad. Connexion had its plug pulled yesterday. Frankly this is to be expected that the model left a lot to be desired. What ultimately killed it?

Well here is my take on the reasons for its failure…

1. Not enough users. Too rosy a picture of users flocking to the service. In all I can say that I only had conversations with a total of 10 people in flight in use. Given who we all know and their personal travel patterns that is a very low number. 2. Differentiated content was lacking. The video was really lame.
3. Lack of commitment by Boeing. Boeing should not have been in the comms business. So this is their bloody nose for trying.
4. Lack of support by the airline I. We all know that net access is a drug. So give us the drug for free so we get addicted then smack us hard for fees afterwards.
5. Lack of support by the airlines II. None of the US airlines supported it so it really withered on the vine.
6.Skype. Surprisingly good service on Skype meant that if you were going to use the VoiP why would you pay for it? Voice was part of the business model
7. Pipes are cheap so why the cost?

Implications?

Those of you (me included) who dread cell phone conversations on board planes can probably rest easier. The airlines are going to take a fresh look at the technology and see if it warrants the demand. We all know that the reception will be crap anyway. If they couldn’t make Telephones on planes work why will cell phones.

Broadband vendors might rethink their ability to hook into airline systems. Email may be good enough.

Personally I am very disappointed that the service will be discontinued. I really enjoyed it – better than much of the lame content on board a plane anyway. For really long haul flights (think 777-LR and A340-500) it should be offered as a service anyway to prevent us from going mad.

Besides – down time is good
Timothy

The New Big Brother

I am not a fan of really big companies. But we have to accept that we live in a world where Amadeus is the big fish. Just because it is not a big fish in the US market should not blind us to how important they are in the rest of the
Cheers
Timothy

Strong performance for Amadeus in Asia Pacific

Amadeus financial results for six months ending on 30 June 2006 showed strong performance for the company. Total bookings grew by 5.5% to 263.9m. Online bookings, from all providers, grew by 22.7% and now represent 13.9% of the total. Amadeus retains its leadership position in travel agency air reservations with 30.5% of the worldwide market share, up 1.3 percentage points year-on-year. Total revenues grew by 12.7% to EUR 1,381.6m.

Asia Pacific continues to demonstrate strong growth in travel agency bookings, online and e-ticketing. Travel agency bookings in the region grew by eight percent to over 25 million. Asia Pacific also saw a significant uptake in e-ticketing with nearly four million e-tickets issued in the first six months of 2006, up nearly 30%. Online bookings processed by Amadeus in the region grew by 56% to nearly 700,000.

Jose Antonio Tazon, President and CEO, Amadeus, comments: “Amadeus’ strong financial performance is testament to our investment in technology for the travel industry. We are proud to manage one of the largest and most advanced civil data centres in the world, which we believe is a key differentiator in our evolving industry and we will continue to invest €300 million each year in our technological infrastructure and development.”

“We continue to drive the transition of our GDS system architecture to open systems based on Unix and Linux, which will deliver two fundamental benefits to our customers. It will keep costs under control as transaction volumes increase exponentially: each day, our datacentre already processes 310 million customer queries. Second, open technology is already allowing us to bring new services and solutions to the market more quickly. As the outsourcing partner for some of the biggest names in travel our time-to-market is their time-to-market.”

Business Highlights

To date, Amadeus has secured content agreements with over 100 airlines across the globe for travel agents and corporations. The most recent ones include US Airways, Copa Airlines, KLM, Maxjet, Paramount Airways and Vueling. Currently 59 airlines in the European market have signed up to the Amadeus Full Content Option, which assures travel agencies that schedules, fares, last seat availability and associated inventory available through Amadeus will be the same as content offered in the following channels:

· Any internet website, including the airline’s own website

· The airline’s own reservation system

· Any other GDS

In July, Amadeus announced a global technology agreement with Eurostar, high-speed passenger train service linking the UK with the Continent. For the first time, users can compare and book real-time Eurostar for routes on the same display as the airlines. In addition, Deutsche Bahn`s fares and availability will also be available on the airline display thanks to a global agreement with Amadeus and AccesRail, allowing agents to choose between rail and short-haul air.

Hotel content

So far this year, Amadeus has added 4,000 new hotels to its system, taking the total number of hotels bookable in Amadeus to over 61,000. The company continued its campaign to guarantee rate parity with other distribution channels by signing 37 leading hotel brands to Amadeus’ Best Available Rate programme.

Leisure travel

In March 2006, Amadeus partnered ACE Hong Kong to offer online travel insurance products through travel agencies in Hong Kong. The collaboration will make the leading insurance provider, the first in Hong Kong to offer travel insurance products through Amadeus.

The Amadeus Leisure platform was launched in France as a tour package solution for travel agents. Selectour is the launch partner, the largest French independent travel agency network covering over 550 travel agencies employing 1,600 travel agents, with over 1,800 points-of-sale in France. In the near future, Amadeus will make its Leisure Platform available to the entire French leisure agency network.

Amadeus added two new cruise lines in the first half of this year – Oceania and MSC Cruises – taking its cruise offering to over 18 cruises lines, the highest of all GDSs. eCruise solution was launched in the US, with plans to expand to other global markets soon. Amadeus continued the rapid uptake of its cruise solution with bookings growth of 200% compared with the same period in 2005.

Travel agencies

At the beginning of the year, Amadeus announced the launch of Amadeus Call Centre Solution to help travel management companies, travel agencies and airlines manage business and leisure call centres more efficiently, cutting call-centre costs by up to 30%.

During the first six months of the year, Amadeus announced the signature of two new global technology partnerships with ITP and Uniglobe. Amadeus will provide common technology platforms for both organisations. Using a common IT platform allows an organisation to deliver a global standard of service more reliably and efficiently, which is becoming more and more important to corporations looking for a travel management partner. Amadeus also extended its partnership with Thomas Cook for another four years, with a global deal to add Egypt, Germany, France, Belgium, Austria, Hungary, Poland, UK, India and Sri Lanka to the list of markets where the companies work together.

Advanced low-fare search technology and full content agreements with leading airlines continue to make Amadeus a partner of choice for online travel agencies in Europe. In May, the company began a long-term agreement to provide Expedia with the distribution technology and travel content it needs to offer more flights, better prices and more destinations. And after one year of successful partnership the company announced plans to continue to support Terminal A on their international expansion plans through Amadeus’ technology platform. Amadeus has similar agreements with the top four online travel agencies in Spain and nearly all of Europe’s leading online travel agencies.

Airlines

Amadeus Altea Customer Management Solution: South African Airways and Pulkovo cut over to the Altea Customer Management Solution (CMS) during the first half of the year, transferring their sales and reservation, inventory management and departure control facilities to Amadeus.

EgyptAir and Etihad Airways became the 27th and 28th airlines to select Amadeus Altea CMS to improve customer service and gain agility to quickly adapt to changing market forces.

Electronic Ticketing: British Airways implemented electronic ticket interline links through Amadeus e-Ticket Server (ETS) with 40 airlines, including all of its oneworld partners and most recently, Austrian Airlines, bmi, Kenya Airways, LOT Polish Airlines, Sri Lankan and Singapore Airlines. Over the next two years, Amadeus will help British Airways to implement e-ticket interlining with an additional 80 new interline partners. Amadeus e-Ticket Server, a hosted solution built on flexible open technology, allows airlines to outsource their full distribution and interlining e-ticketing operations.

Other technology for airlines: British Airways migrated to Amadeus Codeshare, which allows airlines to fully host all codeshare messaging needs in the Amadeus system without maintaining a separate and additional system to communicate between different airlines` inventory systems. British Airways can now support ten partner airlines including Aer Lingus, American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, LAN Airlines, SN Brussels and Qantas.

Travel Intelligence: 31 airlines around the globe are currently using Amadeus Revenue Integrity to improve yield, forecasting and load factors. This solution helps an airline ensure it is filling planes with paying customers instead of empty seats. Airlines using Amadeus Revenue Integrity have reduced of no-shows from 13% to 4% within days of starting to use the solution.

Distribution: Airlines around the world continue to place their trust in Amadeus for the provision of electronic ticketing solutions. Currently 138 airlines and 134 markets can issue e-tickets through Amadeus.

Online solutions: Kenya Airways implemented Amadeus e-Retail Solution, the best-in-class online booking engine for airlines, and one of the main components of the Amadeus e-Travel Airline Suite. This has been instrumental in supporting the airline’s strategy to increase their profitability levels and customer loyalty.

Airline bookings made through the Amadeus e-Travel Airline Suite increased by 28% during the first half of 2006, compared with the same period of 2005. 70 airlines currently use the Amadeus e-Travel Airline Suite, including Qantas, Air France, and Iberia.

Low cost carrier solutions: Amadeus announced a pilot scheme with a new solution to revolutionise the low cost airline market by providing comprehensive, up-to-the-minute fare and flight information access for the first time to travel agents and corporate customers. The solution, called Ticketless Access, is being piloted by Sterling, a leading Scandinavian low-cost carrier.

Xtra Airways successfully implemented Results Customer Management Solution by Amadeus, the hosting, reservation, fares and pricing, inventory and departure control solution designed specifically for the ready-to-market needs of low-cost carriers.

Partnerships: Amadeus partnered with DOB Systems, a leading provider of market intelligence solutions to the airline industry, to deliver a fully portfolio of data analysis solutions for airlines.

Amadeus also partnered with Constraint Technologies (CTI), a leading provider of optimisation technology to the airline industry, to bring airlines a fully integrated solution comprising CTI`s powerful crew and flight operations optimisation solutions and Amadeus` new generation customer management solutions offering.

Corporations

Amadeus processed 98% more passenger name reckons through resellers in the first half of 2006 than in the same period last year. This is testament to its strategic relationships with global travel management companies. Carlson Wagonlit has expanded its global agreement to resell Amadeus e-Travel Management and BCD Travel signed a similar reseller agreement for the US. Amadeus has also signed an agreement to provide the corporate customers of etc group, a full-service meeting and travel management company, with an exclusive new online travel booking solution built on Amadeus e-Travel Management technology.

The flagship corporate self-booking tool, Amadeus e-Travel Management was upgraded twice in the first six months of the year; the solution now provides wider choice, more flexibility, increased cost savings and improved presentation of onscreen data for a smoother, more-informed and faster booking process.

Amadeus announced the development of direct connects between e-Travel Management and Avis and Europcar, combining the best of the direct connect model with the back-up of the travel management company. Amadeus also added the Madrid-Barcelona Puente Aereo air shuttle, SAS Travelpass cards, and Finnair multifly.ecards, for all ticketless travel on Finnair e-ticket routes in Europe.

Amadeus’ corporate travel management division gained the Cybertrust Security Management Programme (SMP) Certification.

Opodo

Opodo began the year by launching its own branded website in Italy, www.opodo.it, bringing the number of European markets in which it now operates in to nine. The site continues to go from strength to strength and has recently been voted the best online travel site in Italy by Computer Bild Magazine. The Nordic market has experienced exceptionally strong growth, with sales up 60% year to date on the previous year.

Enhancements continue to be made to the hotel service with sales up 50% year on year. A new insurance deal was entered into with AIG and in air sales Opodo has maintained its number two position across Europe. In May the company launched its own bespoke Dynamic Packaging Solution across its UK, French, German and Italian sites.

Karavel, the French tour operating business, has expanded to include regional departures and new destinations with sales up 30% year-on-year while Vivacances has increased sales by 80% year-to-date compared with the same period last year.

Reader response to an article in Eyefortravel.com

Timothy J O'Neil-Dunne
Managing Partner
T2Impact Ltd, Global Travel eBusiness

I have to take issue with David Burns on the basis of his supposition. Far from the case where the suppliers margins are tightening – they are indeed expanding. For proof you need look no further than the FT or the Wall Street Journal.

Airline profit margins are running at close to some of their highest in years, at least they are the best since 2000. Yields are up across the board in Hospitality and Airlines. Almost everywhere you look there is a another report of health in the finances of the major players. This significant reversal in fortune is driven not by the cost of fuel but by the shortage of supply. Fundamental economic forces that have reduced the availability of supply in the for example US market (New Orleans) coupled with a strong increase in demand for travel products leading to raising of margins. Ignoring the likes of Ryanair and other smarter (financially speaking) suppliers, British Airways and even United Airlines are reporting “very nice thank you” profits.

Where I will agree (but for different reasons) is the need to control costs and reduce or cap fees by the industry. If (which is in our opinion only temporary) the TMCs are enjoying higher margins it will be short lived.

At T2Impact we see that there is a shift away from the traditional intermediary market towards a more balanced mix of supplier direct with Intermediary channels both online and offline, this is clear. The impact, our analysis has shown, results in an effective cap on the fees that can be charged by an intermediary (on or offline, Touchless or Full Service) to either a leisure or corporate based consumer. However a new conflict is emerging; the Suppliers globally are on a mission to move the cost of the distribution system to the intermediaries and users. So far they seem to be quite successful. The big squeeze for any intermediary will be how to accommodate this shift. That my friends will not be accomplished by marginally tweaking the current model. Radical change is in order.

Spot the similarity...

Continental Airlines and Expedia Sign New Five-Year Partnership Agreement
HOUSTON and BELLEVUE, Wash., May 15 /-- Continental Airlines (NYSE:CAL) ,
the world's sixth-largest airline and Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) , the
world's largest online travel company, today announced a new five-year
strategic partnership under which Continental's full range of products and
services, including all fares and inventory, will be marketed through
Expedia.com(R) and its affiliate sites, available to travelers anytime,
anywhere.

Sabre Holdings and Continental Airlines Sign New Five-Year, Full Content Agreements
SOUTHLAKE, Texas and HOUSTON, May 15 /- Sabre Holdings (NYSE:TSG) and
Continental Airlines (NYSE:CAL) today announced that Continental has signed
new five-year, full content agreements with Sabre Travel Network and
Travelocity.

If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck then perhaps it is a duck.

Timothy J O'Neil-Dunne
Managing Partner - T2Impact Ltd