Carefreetrip.com :: Travel Blog

The U.S. Department of Transportation approved British Airways' OpenSkies transatlantic subsidiary to launch service between Paris Orly and New York JFK next month, the carrier announced today.

Visa today announced the launch of a meetings card and an alliance with meetings technology provider Arcaneo. The card now is available in the United States and Canada, based on issuer availability, with further expansion in the future. Companies wishing to use the Visa Meetings card do not have to be Visa clients.

BCD Meetings & Incentives today announced that Kristen Dierickx, former manager of global meeting services for BearingPoint, has become the national director of its strategic meetings management division.

Travelport GDS today appointed Armin Meier, former CEO of Europe-based leisure travel firm Kuoni Travel Holding Ltd., to assume the position of chief commercial officer, succeeding former CCO Kevin Mooney, who Travelport said left the company in late April.

Sheraton Hotels & Resorts today announced a partnership with Microsoft Corp. to provide wireless Internet and computer stations in its lobbies that accelerates a program it began this spring and which already has rolled out at 66 properties globally. With Microsoft's partnership, the offering is planned to be available at more than 300 of its more than 400 properties globally by the end of this year.

The Air Transport Association today said the number of air passengers traveling this summer on U.S. carriers would decline by 1 percent from the peak witnessed last summer, according to its forecast for air travel between June 1 and August 31.

Travelport during its first-quarter earnings call today said segments for its global distribution system businesses have decreased from the same period last year as the company continues to see softness in both the consumer and corporate travel markets.

Passengers using Mineta San Jose International Airport in California's Silicon Valley should prepare for some inconveniences from construction as the airport intensifies efforts to modernize its facilities. It is currently scheduled to complete the renovation most of its Terminal A by the middle of next year and to finish building a new Terminal B in two years.

Download the May 19, 2008, Executive Dashboard, BTN's briefing for corporate senior executives, here.

The number of corporations scaling back air travel spending this year continues to grow, though many airlines said they have yet to see evidence of a dramatic corporate travel demand downturn.