The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) is to publish a charter later this year to help protect companies’ long-term interests with airlines.
The organisation’s intention to introduce the Berlin Charter – named after the city in which its European conference in currently taking place – was announced by senior vice president for global development, Paul Tilstone.
He said its purpose was to “strengthen relationships between airlines and travel buyers”.
The way airlines market and sell products and services has evolved in recent years, mainly due to advances in technology and consumer buying habits.
This includes the new distribution capability (NDC) currently being developed by the International Air Transport Association (Iata).
NDC is a set of standards (computer code) that will enable any business that sells airline seats and products to better target consumers with offers.
There have been concerns in travel buyer circles that these types of developments could present challenges for the way corporate travel policies and programmes are currently managed.
Put simply, future airline pricing and fare distribution strategies could make it more likely that business travellers make bookings outside a company travel policy.
Policies are in place so companies can monitor how much they are spending and know exactly where travellers are on company business, thus fulfilling their duty of care obligations.
Tilstone said internal discussions were still taking place and that a draft Charter would be made available for review by GBTA members by the end of the year.
Airline chief executives will then be asked to endorse the charter to “reinforce the vital relationship between the corporate travel buying community with airline leaders as they develop forward distribution and pricing strategies”.
Tilstone said: “The creation of the Berlin Charter is the next logical step for GBTA to reinforce the needs of the corporate travel buyer as further changes start to emerge through the implementation of NDC.”
“It will allow us to ensure that the airline community truly understands the need for control, transparency and data of airline spend as their distribution strategies evolve.
Travel buyers will understand which airlines are fully committed to relationships with buyers based on these principles.”