BTN Europe’s most-read news 2022

Business Travel News Europe’s rundown of most-read news stories this year encapsulates the rollercoaster journey this industry has been on in 2022. From the loosening of international travel restrictions in the early months of the year and the subsequent spike in travel, to staff shortages, flight cancellations, rising costs, labour strikes and, most recently, talk of an impending recession in 2023.

While carefully orchestrated launches, reports and announcements from the industry’s big players are always well-read, it’s invariably the off-diary news and developing stories that receive the most attention.

This year was no different, with developments at Air France-KLM generating several of the year's most-read news, including the top story of the year as BTN Europe broke the news of KLM's surreptitious introduction of a €250 ‘congestion surcharge’ at Amsterdam Schiphol airport – and the airline’s subsequent climbdown in the face of an industry backlash.

The sister airlines between them were no strangers to the headlines this year, with two developments in December also featuring among the most-read of the year: the suspension of their agency booking tool following the detection of a “number” of fraud cases and the unrelated – and ongoing – dispute between Air France and Flight Centre Group subsidiary 3Mundi in which the airline said it will prevent the TMC selling its tickets due to alleged “irregularities” in the display of flight prices.

The airlines’ introduction of a SAF surcharge at the start of the year also ranked highly while in September BTN Europe broke the news that the airlines would further postpone the introduction of its GDS surcharge for business travel agencies, with the fee now due to be levied from the end of Q1 2023. That story took a further twist at the end of November when several French TMCs heavily criticised the airlines and threatened action of their own.

Travel restrictions fall
Away from developments at Air France-KLM, the early months of the year were dominated by news of Covid travel restrictions being relaxed, with a report on the potential demise of the UK’s despised Passenger Locator Form featuring in the year’s ten most-read stories.

February, March and April proved bumper months for such developments as France, Finland and Norway relaxed Covid travel rules, Singapore announced it would relax entry rules from 1 April, Ireland removed all Covid travel rules, Malaysia announced its imminent reopening to international visitors, and Australia moved to scrap pre-departure tests.

At the end of February, a new business travel association showed its hand, with 13 buyer organisations uniting to form BT4Europe, a non‐profit association created to give business travel buyers a stronger voice in Europe.

In April, Advantage Travel Partnership CEO Julia Lo Bue-Said issued a note of caution even in the face of booming business while the following month Virgin Atlantic said corporate recovery was ahead of expectations.

News around pricing and rising costs all featured prominently, with CWT’s forecast of price rises continuing into 2023 ranking highly on the most-read list, together with soaring air fares in the wake of cancellations and the news of European hotel prices exceeding pre-pandemic levels, according to one source.

Staff shortages hit the industry
Uppermost on many travel managers’ minds was – and still is, in some cases – ongoing staff shortages affecting service levels at travel management companies. In June, the UK’s ITM buyer members called for greater transparency about staff shortages and in September BTA chair Suzanne Horner warned “staffing has been and will continue to be a massive struggle” for the industry. Back in May, a report from Barclays Corporate Banking identified the talent crunch as the biggest barrier to recovery.

Staffing shortages also led to the introduction of capacity caps at several major European airports, including at London Heathrow from July, at Frankfurt airport the same month, and at Amsterdam Schiphol where the cap remains in place.

TMCs in the spotlight
News of mergers, acquisitions and major account wins regularly appear in BTN Europe’s most-read chart and this year they included TripActions’ purchase of German TMC Comtravo in February, Shell’s appointment of FCM as its global TMC, the takeover of the UK’s Eton Travel by TakeTwo Travel Solutions, the government of the Netherland’s new travel partners, and Sabre’s acquisition of Conferma Pay, which BTN Europe revealed.

More most-read TMC news came in the shape of American Express Global Business Travel boss Paul Abbott’s interview with the BTN Group in February in which he said the industry faces a “defining moment” and, in May, the start of the TMC’s life as a public company; ATPI’s spinning off of some of its tech products as standalone company TripStax; and the acquisition of UK-based Norad Travel Group by Israel’s Talma Shlomo Travel Solutions.

• See also The 16th annual GITs: the travel awards no one wants to win, and The 2023 Outlook.