Artificial intelligence has been a major discussion in travel over the last year, and that’s why the theme of the Skift Global Forum is Connection in the Age of AI.
25.08.2023 - 14:16 / skift.com / Scott Kirby / Steve Kaufer / United Airlines / Edward Russell / Dennis Schaal / Rashaad Jorden / Matthew Parsons / United Ceo
Good morning from Skift. It’s Thursday, January 19. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.
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United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby blasted the U.S. airline industry on Wednesday, arguing that it’s being damaged by its refusal to accept profound structural changes over the last four years, reports Edward Russell, editor of Airline Weekly, a Skift brand.
Kirby said during United’s fourth-quarter earnings call that airlines will fail if they run their businesses like they did in 2019, with Russell noting the industry has been plagued by pilot shortages and increasingly outdated technology, among other difficulties. United estimates that it needs 10 percent more pilots than it had pre-pandemic to operate the same schedule. Kirby also urged the U.S. government to invest more in the country’s air traffic control system. A recent system outage disrupted more than 11,000 flights earlier this month.
Meanwhile, United recorded a $843 million net profit during the fourth quarter. The Chicago-based carrier saw revenues jump 14 percent from the same period in 2019.
Next, a group of online travel agency veterans, including a former Booking Holdings CEO, are teaming up at a startup that aims to facilitate online cruise bookings, writes Executive Editor Dennis Schaal in this week’s Online Travel Briefing.
Schaal reports that New York-based Cruisebound announced a $10 million funding round led by ex-Booking Holdings chief Jeffery Boyd and investment firm Par Capital Ventures. Tripadvisor co-founder Steve Kaufer is also an investor in Cruisebound, which Schaal writes appears to be emphasizing mobile bookings and targeting travelers new to cruises. Most cruise bookings are done offline, with online travel agencies that offer cruises largely using call center agents to make reservations.
Finally, car rental reservations worldwide skyrocketed during the recent year-end holiday period, hitting more than three times the number of bookings compared to 2019 levels, reports Corporate Travel Editor Matthew Parsons.
Global car rental comparison site DiscoverCars found that more than 12,000 seven-day reservations were made over the holiday season. Parsons notes a week tends to be the most common length for vacations. Three Portuguese destinations — Lisbon, Porto and the Madeira Islands — finished in the top 10 of DiscoverCars’ list of the most popular for car rentals, which Parsons attributed to the country’s popularity with tourists over the past two years.
Artificial intelligence has been a major discussion in travel over the last year, and that’s why the theme of the Skift Global Forum is Connection in the Age of AI.
Good morning from Skift. It’s Monday, November 14. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.
United Airlines is taking a subtle dig at rival Southwest Airlines’ massive number of holiday season cancellations in an ad it’s airing during the Super Bowl on Sunday.
Theme park and resort operator Merlin Entertainments has appointed longtime sports and media executive Scott O’Neil as its CEO effective Tuesday. O’Neil replaces Nick Varney, who announced in April that he was retiring from the company he launched in 1999.
Not all hotels should pursue remote workers, a hotel group CEO has suggested, because they mostly served their purpose during the pandemic.
JetBlue Airways has finally made long overdue improvements to its loyalty program True Blue. The New York-based carrier announced on December 7 it’s expanding its elite Mosaic programs and creating a level of mileage accumulation named tiles that enables customers to obtain perks before reaching mosaic levels of flying.
United Airlines launched a new era in branding for the company this year when it unveiled its Good Leads the Way marketing campaign, its largest advertising effort in a decade.
U.S. and European airlines will benefit from pent-up demand for travel to China after its recent border reopening, but route approvals, fresh Covid-19 testing rules and not enough large aircraft remain barriers to rising sales, analysts and industry officials say.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby came out swinging with a stinging critique of the U.S. aviation system on Wednesday. Despite what he views as profound structural changes during the past four years, other players are in “denial” and failing to accept these changes — to the detriment of travelers and the entire industry.
Ace Hotel Chain Acquired for $85 Million by Hospitality Firm Sortis: Ace only has about a dozen properties, but it has punched above its weight in brand impact. Here’s our analysis of whether Sortis is a good home and if $85 million is a good price.
United Airlines launched on Tuesday a more than $100 million investment fund to support start-ups focused on the research and production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
United Airlines Holdings Inc on Monday forecast an unexpected loss in the current quarter, citing lower demand as well as higher costs from a potential contract deal with pilots.