Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - (Page 3) NEWS Airline Execs See A Better ’09 BY JAY BOEHMER Domestic airline executives this month struck a tone of optimism despite a bleak economic environment, slowing demand and falling revenue, as declining fuel costs and aggressive 2008 capacity cuts are setting the stage for profits in 2009. Because U.S. carriers spent much of 2008 recalibrating their businesses to combat fuel costs through efficiency gains, capacity cuts, headcount reductions and ancillary revenue initiatives, they can not only weather the economic downturn but also profit during it, airline executives told investors at this month’s Credit Suisse Global Airline Conference in New York. “While a soft demand market may be unfortunate, in some respects you probably couldn’t find a better time in the history of the airline business to have a recession,” said JetBlue Airways treasurer Mark Powers. US Airways CEO Doug Parker told the conference, “It’s going to be a better year in 2009, which is dif- ferent than what most other industries can say in this economic environment.” Parker said the run-up in fuel costs during the first part of the year “in some ways forced the industry, before the economy softened, to do the things we needed to do,” including cut capacity and introduce ancillary fees. Continued on page 21 Amadeus’ David Jones Ascends To CEO Position NEWSMAKER ON THE RECORD Int’l e-folio is laborious and expensive.More adoption by global clients in the U.S. will speak far louder than simply saying they want it. RANDY JONES, MARRIOTT PROGRAM DIRECTOR FOR LODGING FINANCE, PAGE 16 CONTENTS December 15, 2008 Issue 668 Vol. 25, No. 17 Inside Track: Delta says Northwest merger on track . . 4 Profiles In Travel Mgmt.: UHG fills tech prescription . . 6 Forum: Avoiding liability; managing relationships. . 10 Aviation: Qantas refines transpacific strategy . . . . 14 Lodging: Chains split on international e-folio . . . . . 16 Ground Transportation: Survey extols Enterprise . . . 18 Travel Management: Amex, HRG assess tech . . . . . 20 Meetings Today: Dolce taps Wyndham’s Rudnitsky . . 21 Washington Wire: IRS lowers mileage rate. . . . . . . . 26 BUYERS GO SUPPLIER Kevin Iwamoto (top) joins StarCite, Duane Futch joins GetThere. Amadeus commercial head David Jones on Jan. 1, 2009, will take on the role of president and CEO—filling the position held for 18 years by José Antonio Tazón, who is heading into retirement and a non-executive role as chairman of the Amadeus board. Jones, a travel industry veteran who has held his position as commercial head of Amadeus for 16 years, told BTN that initial plans to follow Tazón out the door have been put on hold. “José Tazón and I were both scheduled to leave around the same time,” Jones said, “but having talked about it with the board, it wasn’t desirable for us both to leave at the same time. We came to the conclusion that the arrangement announced was the best, that José would move to non-exec chairman and I take over as president and CEO for a while.” Jones added, though, “I’m unlikely to be CEO for as long as José was, which was 18 years. On the other hand, I’m significantly younger than John McCain. From that you can deduce that I’ll be here as long as is needed, and that is up to the board and/or myself to decide. There’s no definite time limit on this. I’m the CEO, period, with full powers.” In his commercial role, Jones already had overseen “a very big chunk of the organization,” but now will take on additional duties, such as development, operations, “the normal staff funcFor on-demand Webcasts, tions, finance, legal and HR.” see btnonline.com/Webcasts Jones said he would not bring a radically different strategy or vision to Amadeus. “Every CEO in the world would say the primary objective is to come out of this horrible economic storm in the best possible shape, and that is obviously highly preoccupying. Do we think we need to fundamentally change our strategy in this situation? Absolutely not. We’re quite sure our strategy is the appropriate one for Amadeus, and this is a very unfortunate, and could be a very major, external shock. We don’t see anything there that persuades us that our strategy is wrong. It probably increases our belief in the validity of the path we’ve set ourselves on.” As Jones shifts away from the position he’s held since 1992, Philippe Chérèque—an Amadeus executive since the company’s founding in 1987— will move from his senior vice president of corporate strategy role to head Amadeus’commercial duties. Meanwhile, Luis Maroto will add the title of deputy CEO to his current role as chief financial officer. — Jay Boehmer 4 FIND DAILY NEWS UPDATES AND MORE AT WWW.BTNONLINE.COM BTN (USPS 0728-870, ISSN 8750-3670) is published monthly, except semi-monthly in March, May, July, September and October by Nielsen Business Media Inc.,770 Broadway,New York,NY 10003,tel.646-654-5000,and is distributed free of charge to qualified corporate travel buyers and travel agents specializing in business travel in the United States and Canada. 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Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 Contents Inside Track Profiles In Travel Mgmt Forum Aviation Lodging Ground Transportation Travel Management Meetings Today Washington Wire Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 (Page 1) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 (Page 2) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Contents (Page 3) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Inside Track (Page 4) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Inside Track (Page 5) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Profiles In Travel Mgmt (Page 6) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Profiles In Travel Mgmt (Page 7) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Profiles In Travel Mgmt (Page 8) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Profiles In Travel Mgmt (Page 9) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Forum (Page 10) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Forum (Page 11) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Forum (Page 12) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Forum (Page 13) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Aviation (Page 14) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Aviation (Page 15) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Lodging (Page 16) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Lodging (Page 17) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Ground Transportation (Page 18) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Ground Transportation (Page 19) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Travel Management (Page 20) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Meetings Today (Page 21) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Meetings Today (Page 22) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Meetings Today (Page 23) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Meetings Today (Page 24) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Meetings Today (Page 25) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Washington Wire (Page 26) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Washington Wire (Page 27) Business Travel News - December 15, 2008 - Washington Wire (Page 28)
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