BTN Expert Q&A

London-based meeting and event space company Etc.venues plans to expand to New York by the end of this year with its first of three NYC spaces on Madison Avenue. Construction began in August, and the company grew its U.S. sales team from two members to eight this year. BTN meetings editor Donna M. Airoldi spoke with CEO... Keep Reading

Bob Howell—director and senior advisor of critical operations, global assistance and response for global risk management company WorldAware—believes terrorist attacks on hotels will increase and become more sophisticated. Howell—whose company works with travel managers, travel risk managers, chief security officers, HR and... Keep Reading

Virgin Atlantic VP of North America Yuli Thompson is nearing the end of her first full year as the leader of commercial operations, including sales, in the U.S. and the Caribbean, and she'll add Brazil to her responsibilities when the carrier starts service between London and Sao Paulo next year. She spoke with BTN... Keep Reading

United Airlines president Scott Kirby is not modest when it comes to his aspirations for the carrier, which he joined about three years ago when he left the same position at American Airlines. "We're not only going to be the best airline in the world but the best airline in the history of aviation," he said. It's a bold... Keep Reading

Southwest Airlines unveiled a major strategy shift this month when it announced deals to participate in the Amadeus and Travelport global distribution systems, providing content and full booking capabilities for the first time. And on Aug. 15, Southwest announced Phase 2 of its buildup of Hawaii service would launch in... Keep Reading

As an Germany-based airline with a small, mostly charter business, Hahn Air is not a carrier most corporate travelers will fly, but a large number have used Hahn Air's tickets. The company's major business is its ticketing services, in which it uses its own connections to global distribution systems, as well as Airlines... Keep Reading

The European Technology & Travel Services Association has been lobbying the European Commission to take action against airlines it accuses of violating the EU Code of Conduct for Computer Reservation Systems. ETTSA represents global distribution system operators like Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport; online travel agencies like... Keep Reading

Amid the startups seeking to disrupt the travel booking and management space, TravelPerk has stood out for a several reasons, not the least of which is $65 million in investor financing over the past year and change. TravelPerk's plans for deploying that capital also are drawing notice. It has earmarked the recent... Keep Reading

It's been about a year since Korean Air implemented its joint venture with Delta, and Korean has reported significant growth in corporate business and contracts as a result of the partnership. Korean Air managing VP of passenger network and sales Bo-Young (Daniel) Song updated BTN on the JV, as well as some of Korean's plans... Keep Reading

BCD Travel today unveiled a new global hotel division and branded service, Stay by BCD Travel, for managing hotel programs. The division will be led by April Bridgeman, who assumed the newly created role of SVP of hotel solutions two months ago while retaining oversight of the travel management company's consulting arm,... Keep Reading