The parent company of WorldTravel BTI is re-landscaping the corporate travel battleground with a couple of acquisitions and the decision to sever a longstanding partnership.
BCD will acquire TUI´s business travel subsidiary and a majority stake in The Travel Co., and will combine it with WorldTravel BTI to create the third-largest travel management company in the world.
The Boeing Company recorded 1,002 net commercial airplane orders during 2005, setting a new Boeing record for total orders in a single year. The 2005 total surpasses the previous Boeing record of 877 net orders in 1988, which includes both Boeing and then-McDonnell Douglas totals.
Boeing posted 272 net orders for commercial airplanes in 2004. Gross orders in 2005, which exclude cancellations and conversions, totaled 1,029.
Chilean exports advanced 35 percent in 2005 compared to the previous year totaling $39 billion, according to the International Economic Relations Office, (DIRECON). Foreign trade now is equivalent to 65 percent of Chile´s GDP.
Carlos Furche, head of DIRECON, said the free trade agreements signed by Chile have helped more than double exports in the last six years. “In 1999, Chile exported $16 billion worth of goods and services, and in 2005 (that volume) totaled $39 billion”, said Mr. Furche. “That shows Chile´s consolidation with an economy whose main engine is foreign trade”.
TUI AG has reached an agreement to sell its business travel activities, operating within its wholly owned subsidiary of TQ3 Travel Solutions Management Holding, to the Dutch BCD Holdings N.V. It was agreed not to disclose the purchase price.
The sale has yet to be approved by the TUI supervisory board and is also subject to necessary approvals by anti-trust authorities. The business travel market is currently going through a process of global consolidation. This provides TUI with the opportunity of placing this division, which does not belong to its tourism core business, within a future-oriented business travel management company.
The achievement of full employment and an unprecedented level of economy prosperity for nationals are what citizens of Trinidad and Tobago can look forward to in 2006.
This was part of Prime Minister Patrick Manning´s predictions as he delivered his New Year´s address to the nation over the weekend. According to the Prime Minister, activity in the construction and energy sectors and expansion in the island´s iron and steel industries have put the country on an accelerated path of economic growth.
Central American and US officials hoped the Central American Free Trade Agreement would take effect on January 1.
But none of the region´s countries have passed the necessary legal and regulatory reforms, delaying indefinitely the start date for the historic union that will tear down trade barriers between the United States, Central America and the Dominican Republic.