News in brief: October 1 2009

News in brief from CSA, BA, AB and Pegasus, Travelport GDS and Malahide Travel, Iceland Express, Amadeus, Hillgate Travel and GetThere 

Only one bidder for Czech Airlines

Only one bidder has put in an offer for CSA Czech Airlines, it was confirmed after the deadline of September 30 passed.

The sole bidder is understood to be a consortium of Travel Service, a Czech charter airline company, and Iceland Air Group Holding.

After Air France KLMKoninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij (Royal Aviation Company) the flag carrier of the Netherlands and a good example of how acronyms can aid simple discourse. dropped out of the bidding in August, no other potential buyers have come forward, despite an extension of the deadline by the Czech Republic government.

The government is seeking to sell off the airline which was once valued at around €195m.

But the consortium has reportedly offered only

amp;euro;58m with the proviso that the government pays €41m to cover a hole in the airline's accounts.

In return the consortium would take over the airline's other debts, said to amount to more than €133m.

www.czechairlines.com

BA reports most punctual month for 15 years

British Airways said September was its most punctual month for takes off for more than 15 years.

The UK national carrier said it was its best September on record with 87% of flights departing early or on time.

The carrier said this was also its best month for punctuality since January 1994.

Andy Lord, BA's director of operations, said: "On some days we have seen up to 95% of our short haul flights around Europe departing on time.

"Terminal Five is a world class facility and its efficiency is proving a huge bonus to both our punctuality and reliability.

"As we have our two main UK homes at the world's busiest dual runway airport and the world's busiest single runway airport, the biggest cause of delays remains runway and air traffic capacity."

www.ba.com

AB and Pegasus start co-operation

Turkish low cost carrier Pegasus Airlines has begun its co-operation with Air Berlin after its parent company took an 18% stake in the German airline.

Selected flights of both airlines will feature on both carriers' website giving passengers a greater choice of flights.

Joachim Hunold, Air Berlin's ceo, said: "The cross-linking of the online portals will enable Air Berlin to increase its presence in the Turkish market.

"In return, Pegasus Airlines will benefit from having greater access to the German market." 

Ali Sabanci, Pegasus's chairman, said: "Pegasus Airlines and Air Berlin have a very strong presence in Turkey and Germany and both have changed the way our guests fly in our respective domestic markets.

"This cooperation is only the beginning to serving our customers better."

ESAS Holding, Pegasus's parent company bought its stake in AIr Berlin in March at the same time as TUI Travel, part of the TUI travel group, bought a 19,9% holding.

 www.airberlin.com   www.flypgs.com 

Travelport renews Irish TMCTravel Management Company: An agency which manages business travel for a company. deal

Travelport has renewed its contract with Irish travel management company Malahide Travel.

The deal will allow Malahide which trades as Travel Management International,  to  use Travelport's Galileo Desktop and its eTracker, a tracking too.

Terje Tjostolvsen, Travelport GDS country manager, Ireland, said: "The renewal of our GDS agreement with them is testament to our ability to deliver tangible results for both small and multinational businesses alike and the quality of the support from our local team."

www.travelport.com   www.malahidetravel.com

Iceland Express to serve New York

Low cost airline Iceland Express has announced it is to begin a new service between Reykjavik and New York City.

The four times a week service flying from Reykjavik's Keflavik International Airport to New York City's Newark International Airport will begin June 2010.

The airline said it hopes UK travellers will choose to fly to New York from Gatwick via Reykjavik.

The indirect transatlantic route could provide a low cost alternative to flying direct with a full-service carrier, the airline said.

Tickets will be available from next week.

www.icelandexpress.com

Amadeus launches Hotel Store

Travel technology provider Amadeus has launched its Amadeus Hotel Store service in the UK.

The new service integrates into Amadeus Selling Platform 50,000 new hotels from content consolidator and launch partner Transhotel.

"This is a really exciting new development, as it will mean that we will be able to offer significantly more properties," said Guillaume Thevenot, Amadeus' business development manager.

The sharing of PNRs will allow Amadeus-connected agents to book content on Transhotel "as easy as any other content", Amadeus said.

The hotel content solution will appear as a new tab in the Amadeus Selling Platform free of charge.

www.amadeus.com/hotels   www.transhotel.com

Hillgate joins GlobalStar

UK-based Hillgate Travel has joined GlobalStar Travel Management, a TMC with head offices in every major world region.

GlobalStar said Hillgate joins at the "highest tier level membership in the UK and will therefore become a steering factor in the organisation."

Hillgate's chairman and ceo Jeremy Bull said his clients would now have access to a "true multinational travel management solution."

Hillgate, founded in 1983, has three UK offices and its headquarters in London.

www.globalstartravel.com   www.hillgatetravel.com

GetThere launches meetings collaboration suite

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GetThere has unveiled its Collaboration Suite which it says will maximise return on investment (ROI) from both travel and virtual meetings.

The product collection is the first of a set of new solutions designed to help travel buyers manage trips and other types of collaboration such as web, audio and video conferencing.

GetThere, which provides online travel procurement solutions, said it was driving development alongside new technology from fellow Sabre-owned business Sabre Research.

The Suite also includes other features aimed increasing meetings collaboration such as an ROI calculator (ROIC), Sabre's Cubeless social networking platform, GetThere's own meetings planner and an inventory management tool.

GetThere said the first phase of the suite would be available by the end of the year.

www.getthere.com