Business Travel Tips

Beginning June 5, 2012, Virgin America will offer nonstop service to Portland International Airport (PDX) from both Los Angeles (LAX) and San Francisco (SFO).

The airline will fly to Portland two daily flights from Los Angeles and one from San Francisco.

The Virgin America’s move is expected to drive down the fares on California – Portland routes.

More than 400,000 passengers fly from PDX to LAX and nearly 300,000 from PDX to SFO each year.

Finnair is introducing anti jet lag headsets on board its flights.
This new device, named Valkee bright light headset, simulates the effects of daylight.

Basically, Valkee is a bright light headset which directs bright light through the ear canal towards the brain.
In doing that, it helps your brain to adjust to a new time zone.

Valkee bright light headset will be tested through a Finnair pilot program on long haul flights. This new device is expected to be offered to Business Class passengers on the route between Helsinki and Shanghai in April 2012.
It should be on sale on board Finnair flights in May 2012.

Etihad Airways passengers can get a free night’s stay when stopping over in Abu Dhabi for a minimum of two nights.

The promotion, Essential Stopovers, runs through December 1st 2012.
The free night can be redeemed at one of 25 hotels in Abu Dhabi, ranging from three to five-star.

Also, the Essential Stopovers promotion offers the chance to stay additional nights at very reduced rates — as low as US$59 per person in double occupancy for five and four-star hotels.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) predicted, in its annual economic analysis, that U.S. airline travel will nearly double over the next 20 years.
The number of passengers is projected to grow from 732 million in 2012 to 1.2 billion in 2032.

The number of miles flown by paying passengers will grow from 815 billion in 2011 to 1.57 trillion in 2032.
FAA forecasts that the number of miles passengers fly on domestic flights will decrease slightly in 2012 and then will grow an average of 2.8% a year over the next 20 years.
On international flights, the miles passengers fly are predicted to grow 2.2% this year and then an average of 4.4% a year. The fastest growing routes will be between the U.S. and South America and between the U.S. and Asia.

The FAA study also predicted that airlines will reduce capacity, cut the number of flights and the number of routes as well and with the price of oil projected to remain high, that may result in high air fares for most of this decade.

About the airports in the United States, the study predicted that commercial operations at some of the major U.S. airports — JFK, Chicago’s Midway, Washington Dulles, Orlando, Houston and Las Vegas McCarran Int. — will grow at more than 2.5% a year.

Delta Air Lines is offering passengers another inflight wi-fi option: the chance of shopping on Amazon on all its flights.

Through a partneriship with Amazon, the airline is giving free access to Amazon.com and Amazonwireless.com on onboard all Delta flights. Delta passengers just have to access Delta Connect WiFi portal and click on one of the Amazon banners.

Delta Connect WiFi portal already provides free access to exclusive shopping deals, travel information, news content — from The Wall Street Journal and People — and a number of entertainment options.