Week In Review

The business travel industry is seeing the effects of Brexit, with hotel demand in the United Kingdom expected to soar and jump a whopping 30 percent in the second half of 2016, according to Buying Business Travel. International travelers look to this as an opportunity to visit pricier destinations at a more affordable rate, and British travelers will likely travel within the UK due to the weak currency.

Domestic travelers in the United States are reveling as well, with U.S. airfares being the cheapest they’ve been in six years, since 2010. Chicago Tribune reports the average price of a domestic ticket dropped to $361 in the first quarter of 2016, down nearly 8 percent from the same period in 2015.

In other aviation news, Bloomberg reports the need for 30,850 new pilots annually for the next two decades due to a surge in global air travel, according to a forecast by Boeing Co. Boeing also estimates the need for 112,000 pilots in just North American in the same time span. Low-cost carrier JetBlue may be laying the groundwork for flights to Europe in the near future, according to USA Today.

A new law effective immediately requires airlines to refund baggage fees for delayed bags if the luggage is delayed 12 hours after a domestic flight or 15 hours after an international flight arrival, says Yahoo Finance.

Southwest Airlines resumed a normal schedule on Monday, following a technical glitch that caused 2,300 cancellations and thousands of delays over the course of four consecutive days. Southwest remedied the situation by allowing passengers to re-book at no cost within two weeks of their original travel dates and offering customers with delayed flights 50 percent off vouchers for future travel.

The Motley Fool claims United Airlines may be downsizing and eliminating one of its hubs, due to domestic capacity cuts and a loss of market share in its hubs over the past five years. Boeing, on the other hand, considers ending production of the 747 if sufficient orders are not met, according to USA Today. The same source reports leisure carrier Allegiant is rapidly expanding, adding Puerto Rico, San Juan and Trenton, New Jersey to its network.

On the subject of expansions, Louisville International Airport announces the addition of a nonstop flight for business travelers. OneJet now offers direct service to Pittsburgh, with Kansas City, Missouri and Raleigh, North Carolina to be added in October.

In hotel news, USA Today highlights the development of new hotel brands designed specifically for millennials. Chains like Marriott International and Virgin Hotels are now focusing on design and technology to appeal to millennials, who represent one-third of the U.S. population. Travel Daily News shares the launch of Bizly’s new website, which enables users to book hotel meeting rooms in New York, Chicago and San Francisco.

Priceline founder Jay Walker is also launching something new, a company called Upside that will enable business travelers to “‘monetize’ the flexibility in their travel plans that they don’t even realize they have,” Forbes reports.

This week’s list comes from USA Today:
Five exercises you can do in your hotel room in 15 minutes