In Travel News for December 8th, 2022 we talk about Virgin Voyages newest ship, SouthWest and Corporate Air Travel, and the cost of Business Travel in 2023.
Virgin Voyages Welcomes Newest Ship
While still a new comer to the Cruise industry, Virgin Voyages has quickly made a name for themselves with their fresh take on the cruise experience. The cruise line has just taken possession of their newest ship, the Resilient Lady. The Resilient is a sister ship to the Scarlet Lady and Valiant Lady which are currently in service. The maiden voyage of the Resilient Lady will be on May 14th, 2023. This voyage will depart from her home port Piraeus in Greece and will visit Santorini, Rhodes, Bodrum, and Mykonos. Once the Mediterranean sailing season comes to a close the Resilient Lady will embark on a 44 day repositioning voyage for sailings in Australia and New Zealand. The repositioning cruise will leave Greece on October 22nd, 2023 and visit ports in Cairo, Dubai, Bali, Mumbai, Phuket, and Singapore.
SouthWest Increases Share of Business Travelers
SouthWest Airlines has recently shared that over the last two year the airline has increased their share of domestic corporate travel to 10%. SouthWest first started corporate bookings in May of 2020, According to SouthWest the company had 1% of the market in in the second quarter of 2020, 6% of the market at the end of 2021, and now are at 10%. The breakdown of corporate Air Travel within the domestic United States sees American Airlines with 30%, Delta with 28%, and United with 23%. SouthWest believes they have the best value proposition for coach, and the company has been doing really well with small and midsized businesses.
Corporate Airfare Projections for 2023
Business Travel has been slowly making a comeback however a recent forecast of airfare costs could slow this down. According to American Express Global Business Travel high fuel prices, labor shortages, and a strong U.S. dollar could raise the price of international economy class flights along key corporate routes by as much as 25%. Domestic flights within the United States look to be more manageable with a projected 3% increase. Flights within Europe are expected to raise by 5.5%. American Express is projecting that global capacity for 2023 will rise to 92% of of the capacity that was available in 2019.