Business Travel Executive, February 2019

New York Airports Order Electric Buses The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will purchase 18 Proterra Catalyst E2 vehicles for shuttle service at John F Kennedy Newark Liberty and LaGuardia airports Six of the buses are in service at JFK with LGA and EWR to each deploy six more in 2019 With the addition of the New York facilities seven US airports have now ordered or deployed the electric buses including San Jose Raleigh Durham Sacramento and Honolulu Southwest Adds Capabilities to SWABIZ Corporate Portal Southwest Airlines has added new capabilities to its SWABIZ corporate booking portal including international reservations a travel fund report hotel bookings and enhanced reporting Travelers and managers can now use SWABIZ to book flights to any of the carriers 11 international destinations and include EarlyBird Check In on international reservations as well Travel managers with full access to SWABIZ can view all unused and non expired Southwest funds connected to their SWABIZ company numbers Enhanced reporting now includes more details enhanced traveler tracking a new home page and a simpler reservation booking process Hotel booking capability is a returning feature in addition to air and car bookings CWTs RoomIt Partners with SiteMinder RoomIt the hotel distribution division of Carlson Wagonlit Travel and SiteMinder have announced a strategic partnership in the corporate travel distribution chain The two are teaming up to integrate their services and provide hotels with additional access to RoomIt travelers under CWTs corporate travel programs umbrella The new partnership will give eligible SiteMinder hotels access to RoomIt premium business travelers by connecting hotels to business travelers and business travelers to the right rooms Yon Abad vice presidentsuppliers at RoomIt by CWT said Hotels want more rooms booked and business travelers want more choice its a win win Enterprise Holdings Buys Deem Enterprise Holdings has announced its intent to acquire Deem a San Francisco based managed travel technology platform Deems products include Deem Work Fource and Deem Ground Work a suite of online booking and travel technology products for business travelers travel managers travel management companies and suppliers Once the acquisition is finalized the resulting infusion of capital and resources would help Deem further expand its product roadmap and increase the pace of product development Enterprise has been a minority investor in Deem since 2016 and Deem provided the technology behind Enterprises EHIDirect travel booking platform for small and medium sized corporations Deem will continue to operate autonomously from its Silicon Valley headquarters and offer its products to other providers IATA Unveils Turbulence Database Tool The International Air Transport Association has announced the launch of Turbulence Aware a real time data resource to help airlines avoid turbulence when planning routes while aircraft are in flight Turbulence Aware collects data from multiple contributing airlines and consolidates the information into a single anonymized objective source database that is accessible to participants The result is the first global real time detailed and objective information for pilots and operations professionals to manage turbulence Delta Air Lines United Airlines and Aer Lingus have already signed contracts to use the platform Operational trials will run throughout 2019 with the final product to be launched early in 2020 Norwegian Long Haul Flights Roll Out Free WiFi Norwegian will begin offering free and premium high speed WiFi connectivity on flights between Europe the US South America and Asia The first connected Boeing 787 9 Dreamliner has entered service and is offering free inflight WiFi for the duration of long haul flights More than 50 percent of Norwegians 787 9 Dreamliner fleet is expected to offer inflight connectivity by 2020 and the carrier has begun rolling out WiFi on its Boeing 737 MAX fleet Economy and Premium customers on both aircraft types will have the choice of two inflight WiFi packages a basic free option and a premium option fast enough to stream music movies and television at an introductory price of about 15 for a three hour package Business Travel Executive FEBRUARY 2019 33