TM Insider 199

The TravelMole Insider – Issue 199
ISSN 1474-2292
30 April 2002
http://www.travelmole.com

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On Thursday, TravelMole reaches its 200th issue.
We’re celebrating this milestone with the publication of our
first HTML issue. If you’ve ticked the HTML option in your ‘My
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FEATURES
The GDSs, sponsored by Galileo
http://www.travelmole.com/item/79060
Testing times, by New Frontiers
http://www.travelmole.com/item/79251

LATEST PRESS POSTINGS
RWA Session Manager goes live on Telewest Travel Network
Sabre becomes leading GDS in Greece
Sabre signs deal with UK’s leading Uniglobe franchisee
April news from Switzerland
French operator Boomerang selects Sabre as technology provider
http://www.travelmole.com/news/press

LATEST INDUSTRY NEWS
1. Thomson scraps free in-flight meals
2. Thomson boss: No-frills airlines are not a threat
3. The TravelMole Interview: Carolyn Ezzell, Delta Air Lines
4. MyTravel to increase proportion of seat-only sales
5. UK air traffic down 5% last month
6. Virgin Atlantic fails to deny flotation reports
7. bmibaby md dismisses analyst’s criticisms
8. Gray Dawes invests in online booking technology
9. Early Easter causes London hotel recovery to slip back
10. Site of the Week: nycvisit.com

A message from ABTECH:
ABTECH 2002 Conference: Live Long and Prosper, May 23rd.
Many of today’s travel companies were well established when
the Internet boom hit, and plan to see out the current ‘sea
change’ in the industry. But in very different ways.
Presentations from a number of AAA e-commerce award winners
plus panel sessions. ABTA, London. More info/registration:
http://www.abtech.co.uk/livelong/tm

EDITOR’S NOTE
The impact of the no-frills carriers on the UK travel industry
seems to be increasing daily. After causing the traditional
airline sector to sit up with a jolt, it now looks like the
operators are rattled. MyTravel has been busy denying reports
that its charter business is to become a low cost airline, but
has conceded that it is to increase its proportion of seat-only
business.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/79486

Meanwhile TUI UK’s Chris Mottershead says that the no-frills
airlines are not a threat to its business – though Thomson has
also announced that it is scrapping free in-flight meals.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/79487

Whether these measures will be enough to fend off the
competition is another matter – as GartnerG2’s Mark Riseley
points out the no-frills airlines now have momentum and trying
to compete with them won’t be easy.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/79292

Best wishes

Richard Hammond
mailto:[email protected]

LATEST INDUSTRY NEWS
Breaking Stories: http://www.travelmole.com/news/index.html

1. Thomson scraps free in-flight meals
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thomson Holidays’ customers will have to pay for all airline
meals from next summer, the company announced yesterday.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/79487

2. Thomson boss: No-frills airlines are not a threat
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thomson Holidays md Chris Mottershead has said that the no-frills
airlines do not pose a significant threat to the company.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/79495

3. The TravelMole Interview: Carolyn Ezzell, Delta Air Lines
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The recent axing of commission by carriers in the US was not
unexpected, according to Carolyn Ezzell vice president Atlantic
region at Delta Air Lines.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/79417

4. MyTravel to increase proportion of seat-only sales
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MyTravel has denied that it is to set up a no-frills airline
following what it claims is a misleading report in The Guardian
newspaper yesterday, but confirmed that it is to increase its
amount of seat-only sales.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/79486

5. UK air traffic down 5% last month
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
National Air Traffic Services (NATS) has revealed that it
handled almost 5% less air traffic movements last month compared
to March 2001.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/79249

6. Virgin Atlantic fails to deny flotation reports
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Virgin Atlantic has refused to deny reports that chairman Sir
Richard Branson may reduce his stake in the airline as part of a
future flotation.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/79434

7. bmibaby md dismisses analyst’s criticisms
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
bmibaby md Tony Davis has dismissed claims that the low cost
carrier has entered the market too late and its operating costs
are too high.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/79292

8. Gray Dawes invests in online booking technology
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gray Dawes’ travel clients will soon be able to use a new
online booking system that will allow them to get help from one
of the business travel agent’s consultants at the touch of a
button.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/79409

9. Early Easter causes London hotel recovery to slip back
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The early Easter holidays have dented the performance of London
hotels during the first quarter of the year, according to
preliminary figures from Andersen.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/79518

10. Site of the Week: nycvisit.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
nycvisit.com is the official New York City tourism web site.

TravelMole’s reviewer Adrian Mann says: “There’s an enormous
amount of information and links to all the things you might want
to find out, and on the whole, it’s fairly easy to navigate and
get to what you want. There was some lack of consistency,
particularly in how links are displayed, and a distinct lack of
images – even the NYC images pages only displayed 8 pictures and
one webcam – but overall, it’s an excellent resource.”
Read his full review:
http://www.travelmole.com/featured_sites.html

TRAVEL DEALS FOR THE TRAVEL TRADE
TravelMole, in association with idDeals, brings you the
opportunity to get exclusive travel trade and airline staff
discounts at a range of properties at home and abroad:

Seychelles, The Plantation Club: luxurious beach resort, 25% off.
Dubai, Five star Hilton resort: GBP 35 per double incl tax.
Australia Gold Coast, Sea World Nara Resort: from GBP 61.
London, Radisson Edwardian: GBP 142.50 per double room.

Please note these discounts are only available to serving travel
agents or airline staff and their travelling companions. For
full details of these offers, go to:
http://www.travelmole.com/item/69822

CAREERZONE
This week on TravelMole there are 89 travel-related job
vacancies, all listed at:
http://www.travelmole.com/cgi-site/tmjobs.cgi
If you want to be the first to know about a new vacancy that
matches your own interests, just set up a Job Vacancy Alert and
we’ll send you an email as soon as the job is posted.
http://www.travelmole.com/cgi-site/tmjprofile.cgi?action=insert

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