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The Global Business Travel Association, the voice of the global business travel industry, participated in a Department of Transportation (DOT) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Forum focused on exploring how the travel system can improve its collective response to flight diversions. The Forum was held to discuss lessons learned from the early winter storm on October 29, 2011 and review initial recommendations. Featured speakers included Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt and FAA Deputy Administrator Michael Huerta.
“We applaud the DOT and FAA for hosting this Forum to encourage better planning and closer coordination among government agencies, airports, airlines and others in these complex situations. We encourage the stakeholders to follow through and implement tools to improve their collective response to flight diversions and lessen the impact on every party involved, including business travelers,” said Michael W. McCormick, GBTA executive director and COO. “GBTA strongly supports the initial recommendations made at the Forum which focus on better advanced contingency planning and more robust, real-time communications among the decision makers. Every effort should be made to keep travelers informed and minimize the disruption.”
All diversions, from a delay to a severe weather emergency, can create difficulties for individual travelers and impact the travel system as a whole. With major storms and natural disasters, there is also a more substantial impact on business travel and the economy. For instance, GBTA recently released a new report exploring the financial effects of a severe weather disruption on the East Coast and found that the business travel industry would initially lose about 514,000 trips and $606 million in spending due to storm related cancellations. This report also predicted that interrupted business trips would result in a total GDP loss of about $675 million, as well as lost federal, state and local tax revenues of $176 million.
“We are pleased to be engaged in these types of conversations to improve the travel system and look forward to next steps in this collaborative effort,” concluded McCormick.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
