Summit Notebook

Revealed: Why ‘Conquerors of the Skies’ are homing on Wyoming

There must be something about Wyoming at this time of year.

Several participants at the Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit held in Washington this week said they were heading out West — but declined to say what was taking them so far from hard-nosed airline investors and Pentagon accountants.

But the aviation head honchos tend to shy away from talking about it.

“I like Wyoming very much in the beginning of fall — a beautiful area,” was all we could get from one multinational corporation chief.

“It’s a meeting,” growled the head of a top engine maker.

To explain the rush, industry officials familiar with the matter suggested the curious should look no further than a venerable club known as the “Conquistadores del Cielo.”

Each year, according to people who have attended the event in the past, the ‘conquerors of the skies’ temporarily set aside their differences in one of the world’s most cut-throat industries and head to the Cowboy State for informal bonding.

Are the days of flying business and 4-star hotels over for biz travelers?

Are flying coach and staying at budget hotels the “new normal” for businesspeople who travel for work? If so, what does it mean for airlines, hotels and casinos still trying to recover from the economic downturn? Chris Woronka, Senior Gaming, Lodging and Leisure Analyst at Deutsche Bank Securities shares his thoughts with us on what’s in store for the Travel and Leisure Industry in 2010. Will the industry once again be flying high? Or, will the prospects for a better year ahead get grounded?

2010 Travel and Leisure Industry Outlook

Will the travel & leisure industry bounce back in 2010?

Be it through optional newspaper delivery, a fee for blankets, or shuttered restaurants, travel and leisure companies have had to trim costs creatively as the recession hurt revenues and profits.  The sector has recently been buoyed by expectations of recovery amid signs that business travel demand is starting to rebound.  But discounted airfares and hotel rates and volatile fuel prices pose challenges to profitability. Room rates at hotels remain under pressure, while casino operators are looking to Asia to spur growth as prime U.S. destinations such as Las Vegas struggle to rebound.  And airlines, which have cut jobs and reduced capacity in the past two years as the economic downturn battered demand, face new security concerns that also could slow recovery.  Executives of some of the world’s biggest and best-known airlines, hotel and casino companies will address these and other issues at the Reuters Travel and Leisure Summit, to be held in New York from Feb. 22-24.

Audio – Air France-KLM CEO sees some unfriendly skies ahead

The state of the airline industry and travel overall is not poised for a rapid takeoff in 2009 and looks like it will remain in rough shape until next year, said Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, chief executive of Air France-KLM, on Monday at the Reuters Travel and Leisure Summit.

The head of Europe’s largest airline, who became CEO in January, said he was unsure when things would turn around, but warned that both passenger and cargo metrics were down for the airline.