New AirPlus Survey Forecasts Outcome of Direct Connect Debate

AirPlus International, a global provider of corporate travel payment solutions, releases January’s The Wire…from AirPlus entitled: Distribution Scuffle or Industry Re-Shuffle? Over 70 percent of corporate travel professionals polled believe that if American Airlines succeeded in a direct connect strategy with online travel agencies (OTAs), that this would result in additional fees from TMCs. For more details, including a complimentary PDF of the results, please visit the AirPlus Community.

“For the past two years, our The Wire survey keeps a pulse of the topics that are important to the industry,” said Richard Crum, President and CEO of AirPlus International, Inc. “This month is no different, as we explore the current hot topic in the industry at a slightly different angle. We polled corporate travel professionals on what they think will be the future of the direct connect debate. Interestingly, more than 66 percent of respondents said they thought direct connect models would impede comparison shopping with 72 percent of buyers who held this opinion and just 54 percent of suppliers who did.”

The Wire…from AirPlus is a monthly report on the pulse of the business travel industry on timely and relevant topics. Results of this edition are based on a survey of 141 corporate travel professionals in North America and Europe from January 18 to 22, 2011.

AirPlus International provides savings to over 33,000 customers worldwide through a suite of business travel payment solutions which include central bill accounts, corporate cards and online management tools. AirPlus is travel agency neutral, the leading issuer of UATP worldwide and the preferred partner of various airlines such as Air China, British Airways (NYSE:BAB), Continental Airlines (NYSE:CAL), Luxair, Lufthansa German Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Swiss International Air Lines, TAP Portugal and Singapore Airlines. For more information, please visit www.airplus.com, contribute to our community at AirPlus Community, follow us at Twitter and LinkedIn, and like us at Facebook.