Mike Koetting
Carlson Wagonlit Travel last month announced the appointment of Mike Koetting to the newly created position of executive vice president, global supplier management. Also named to the CWT global executive team, Koetting remains a member of the CWT North American executive team. A recent discussion with him on various topics is excerpted below.
What does the change in your role to being more global show about how CWT is evolving?
It reflects the desire and opportunity to manage our supplier relationships globally. We have done that in some ways historically; for instance, we have had a global hotel program and management effort for many years and we have managed our global distribution system relationships globally, as well. But from an airline perspective and some of the other supplier relationships, those have always had more of a local or regional focus, and we think there's a benefit to at least understanding our relationships with those suppliers on a global level. We have had great pockets of excellence in the way we manage supplier relationships in one country that we have not necessarily leveraged in the rest of the world.
What's your take on airline alliances?
They are important and are gaining relevance, but I would acknowledge that from the perspective of a travel manager, the alliances have been difficult to work with in the past. There are still challenges around corporate contracting efforts, and it can be a challenge for a travel manager to identify specific, tangible benefits from an alliance relationship.
One of the other developments related to your new role is the recent Open Skies agreement between the European Union and United States. What do you think that means?
That's very interesting, and the impact that will have on the importance of airline alliances. That could be a very complex issue for travel managers to navigate particularly as they evaluate the impact of code-sharing agreements, for instance, on their corporate agreements. One would expect additional antitrust immunity applications to be submitted.
What other industry topics do you think are important to TMCs or customers now?
Particularly for those global and multinational corporations, the development in Europe around GDS deregulationand contract renewals are important issues that bear watching. I think Air Canadaremains a point of interest for corporations and the GDSs. Specifically, how will the GDSs learn to accommodate Air Canada's pricing initiatives? How effectively will corporations continue to be able to resist those initiatives? And will other carriers try to follow? Personally, I think Air Canada's position is greatly benefited by their market strength in Canada, so I'm skeptical that U.S. carriers would be able follow all of Air Canada's initiatives, but there may be other opportunities that they could pursue.
It's been about a year since the Navigant merger was approved and integration began. It remained to be seen, back then, whether back office systems would be merged and data reporting systems chosen, etc. It's obviously a big job. What update can you offer?
That work is progressing, albeit very deliberately. So, yes we are going to be merging our back office systems and we are going to be merging to a single reporting tool. I don't think we're in a position to make announcements about that yet, but I can confirm we will be doing those system integrations. We're obviously trying to balance synergy cost reduction opportunities ... with customer service, and obviously customer service is paramount.