STAR 2012 A GREAT SUCCESS + A GREAT NIGHT!

The STAR (Scottish Travel Agents' Roadshow) Exhibition - presented in conjunction with STAN (Scottish Travel Agents' News) - proved to be a great success and a great night, in the view of many of the guests and exhibitors.

Held in the Crowne Plaza in Glasgow, Thursday 29 November and in its second year, the format was similar to the old SPATE (Scottish Passenger Agents' Trade Exhibition) - an exhibition in the daytime and a party at night. The exhibition involved travel agents completing the questions in a 'passport' to bid for one of the many  prizes on offer, and it was followed by a buffet with drinks, entertainment and dancing until late.

Exhibitors included airlines, hotel groups, ferry operators, cruise lines and holiday companies committed to bringing their products to the travel agents who attended - "a great opportunity," commented SPAA Secretary and co-organiser Janice Hogarth, "to meet with counter staff, and being close to Christmas, stay on for the evening and join them for some networking and conversation."

Prizes included Champagne, shopping vouchers, hotel stays, travel accessories - and no fewer than 8 air tickets, donated by Emirates, Turkish Airlines and Virgin Atlantic - which caused great excitement during the prize ceremony.

The STAR Exhibition looks to become a regular event in the Association's busy calendar of events.

MTB 30/11/2012

PRESIDENT'S STAN COLUMN - NOVEMBER 2012

As I mentioned in my column last month, we had been lobbying hard for remedy slots to be awarded to a single carrier and we are delighted to hear that these have now been awarded to Virgin Atlantic and we are looking forward to continuing to work closely with them during the introduction of their new services to Edinburgh and Aberdeen in March of next year. With Edinburgh and Aberdeen then offering competitive flights we will turn our attention and pressure to try and obtain the same for Heathrow to Glasgow .

The SPAA are involved in and attended the first Cross Party Aviation Group in the Scottish Parliament
at the end of last month where a full working agenda was created. The first action was to write to George Osborne regarding not only the reduction in the levels of APD but also to put pressure on the government to consider devolving APD to Scottish parliament. This was particularly relevant given that the brand new ‘York Aviation report’ had been published and a presentation had been given by Aberdeen, Glasgow & Edinburgh Airport . This new grouping consists of representatives from the 3 main Scottish Airports , SPAA , British Airways & Virgin Atlantic and stakeholders from industry from both the leisure and business sectors and we will be working on a number of other issues .

The SPAA is delighted to see another new flight being announced with the latest one being a summer service from Glasgow to Guernsey for a short summer season and this is on top of other recent announcements from Easyjet and jet2 holidays. We continue with our airline and leisure meetings to continue to work with our Associates and work in partnership on many issues

As the new ATOL regulations are in place, we are delighted to see positive comments coming regarding the potential inclusion of airlines as the next step which we have been working towards for some time and will keep the pressure up on this subject.

At the same time we are looking to make our input into the upcoming review of the EC Package Holidays Directive.

On the cruising front, in light of the latest raft of commission changes becoming effective from January 2013, we are now progressing with an Agenda to ensure that the cruise companies do indeed police anyone trying to undercut the level playing field together with lobbying to get any extras such as shore excursions commissionable and we will keep you updated on our progress

Finally, I look forward to seeing many of you at our Christmas Lunch on the 13th December at 29 Club which as usual will be very enjoyable and if you have not done so already please contact jhogarth@spaa.org to book your place.

KT / JH 23/11/12

SPAA APPLAUDS ‘FORWARD-LOOKING + PRAGMATIC DECISION’ ON ABZ + EDI-LHR SLOTS

The SPAA has applauded the EC’s decision to award all the ‘remedy slots’ relinquished by IAG in its takeover of bmi to a single airline - Virgin Atlantic. The decision comes in the wake of assertive lobbying by the Association, a number of Holyrood MSPs and other stakeholders, and against the background of the recent SPAA survey of travel agents, canvassing their views on the matter.

97% of those polled had expressed the view that the best way to deliver long-lasting competition and “the best deal” for Scottish air passengers was for one airline to provide strong competition on the key Scottish routes in question : Aberdeen - Heathrow and Edinburgh - Heathrow.

Commenting on the EC decision SPAA President Kevin Thom said ‘’This is an excellent outcome for Scottish business and leisure travellers – and it demonstrates an understanding by the European Commission of the needs of Scottish business and commerce. Undoubtedly, our travelling business community – consumers and providers – will get solidly behind the new Virgin Atlantic services to London Heathrow and beyond - on both VS and other international airlines with worldwide connectivity to offer.

In addition, we firmly believe this decision will ultimately strengthen the position of the other airlines offering Anglo-Scottish services - with whom we also work closely. Robust competition sustains product quality and promotes competitive pricing - and that will grow the market for all the  airlines involved!”

MTB 23/11/2012