Week in Review

Project-based business travel spending reached $45.4 billion in 2017, comprising 15 percent of all U.S. business travel spending, Hotel Management reports. The findings come from a new GBTA study in partnership with InterContinental Hotels Group.

American and United are pushing back on the Trump administration, Skift reports. The airlines have requested that their flights not be used to fly immigrant children who are being separated from their families.

According to TravelDailyNews International, an alarming amount of air traffic control strikes across Europe have taken place this year impacting millions of travelers and the region’s overall economy.

A Swedish real estate investment firm has acquired a portfolio of seven German hotels from Fico Group, 4Hoteliers notes.

On the ground transportation front, Business Today reports a new high-speed rail link between Delhi and Rajasthan has received approval. The project will cost approximately $3.68 billion USD, or Rs.25,000 crore.

In that same vein, Global Indonesian Voices notes preparations are underway for a high-speed rail project that would connect Jakarta and Surabaya. The line would shorten the travel time between the two cities in Indonesia to just five hours.

According to USA TODAY, Orlando’s MCO will become the first airport in the country to process all arriving and departing passengers with facial-recognition technology.

The same source reports fliers in the U.S. will face scrutiny for having powders in their carry-on bags. The TSA will be focusing on containers with at least 350 milliliters of powder, which is about equal to a can of soda.

Rail journeys have fallen for the first time in eight years in the UK, according to Buying Business Travel and findings from the Office of Rail and Road. This is the largest annual decrease since 1993-4.

On this week’s episode of The Business of Travel, we highlight our Innovation Series in partnership with Phocuswright. Hear Tripgrid, lumo, and Stay22 deliver six-minute pitches on why they deserve to be named the top innovator in business travel.

Business travel is ahead of other industries on payment tech, Associations Now reports. A new GBTA study, conducted in partnership with AirPlus International, also finds that 56 percent of U.S. travel agents use central travel accounts (CTAs), ghost accounts or lodge cards that can be used by multiple employees.

According to USA TODAY, Amtrak has revamped its food and beverage menu and introduced a host of new items, including gluten-free options.

Lyft has introduced a feature that makes it easier to track business travel expenses, TechCrunch notes. The new feature allows for a connection between employee trips and the managers in charge of their reimbursement.

JetBlue founder David Neeleman is raising funds for a new U.S. airline called Moxy Airways, Skift writes. The airline has already secured orders for 60 Bombardier CS300 aircraft to arrive in 2020 and is aiming to start service that same year.