• Runzheimer Report Reveals Insights on Business Travel Expenses; Hawaii Ranks Most Expensive State for Business Travel

Boston | October 3, 2019–Runzheimer, the premier relocation and living costs intelligence solution, powered by Motus, today released its 2019 Cost of Business Travel Report, which helps organizations and professionals understand the expenses associated with business travel across the U.S. The report revealed that business travel costs have increased steadily in recent years and predicts that this trend will continue in 2020. Specifically, airfare is anticipated to increase between a half of a percent and one percent, ground transportation is expected to rise two percent and hotel prices are likely to jump two to three percent.

Motus found that the average business trip costs $1,293, and although many people think of airfare as the most expensive part of a typical business trip, it only makes up 34 percent of the cost. Lodging (28 percent), meals (19 percent) and ground transportation (18 percent) combine to make up the majority of a business traveler’s expenses today.

“Travel is one of the most difficult expense categories to control. By understanding the costs of business travel in detail, organizations can gain deeper insight into their T&E expenses,” said Ken Robinson, market research analyst for Motus. “These insights can be extremely valuable to a wide range of professionals. For example, finance professionals can forecast more accurate travel budgets, event planners can understand the true costs of the locations they choose and government officials can make sure that their cities are competitive destinations to attract business travelers.”

The report also reveals location-specific insights for business travelers and their organizations to keep in mind as they plan business travel, as high cost areas can range as much as 55 percent higher than the U.S. average, due to price variations related to lodging, meals, airfare and ground transportation.

The top ten most expensive states for business travel, ranked from most to least expensive, are:

1. Hawaii
2. Massachusetts
3. California
4. Vermont
5. Washington
6. Rhode Island
7. New Jersey
8. New Hampshire
9. Connecticut
10. New York

The cities of New York, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle and San Jose are the top five most expensive cities to travel to, in order. These cities are likely to cost up to 55 percent more than the average destination when compared to cities such as Denver and Cleveland. Many of these cities are expensive for business travel because of high hotel costs, but other costs can make a trip pricey. For example, New York City has higher meal and hotel costs, but below average car rental costs. Boston has above-average costs in all categories.

To access the full report, please visit: http://in.motus.com/2019-business-travel-costs-report

• Starting this month, LATAM will implement a new Premium Business service, offering more comfort and privacy to its passengers.
• With an investment of more than US$500 million, LATAM is renovating the cabins of approximately 200 aircraft and implementing wide-ranging initiatives to improve the travel experience for its passengers.

São Paulo, Brazil | August 27, 2019– LATAM Airlines Group today unveiled its new Premium Business service onboard the first Boeing 777 in its fleet to feature the group’s new cabin standard. The service is part of a $500 million investment to improve the passenger experience and includes US$400 million in cabin renovations.

The launch event took place in LATAM’s largest maintenance facility, the Manutenção em Linha Center (CML), at São Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport.

LATAM executives presented the new Premium Business class service, which includes a new culinary concept and cabin crew protocols to provide more comfort and privacy so that customers can reach their destination feeling renewed and refreshed. Starting this month, the new service will be available on all LATAM international flights.

“From listening to our customers, we understand they want more options, flexibility and personalization to be able to travel according to their needs. We are investing over half a billion dollars in cabin renovations, digital tools and improving our service to offer each of our customers a tailored travel experience,” said Paulo Miranda, Vice President of Customers, LATAM Airlines Group.

The new Premium Business service

“Our new Premium Business service offers more comfort and privacy so that our passengers can rest and arrive refreshed at their destination. We have transformed our service, starting with a new culinary concept as well as new cabin crew protocols and service elements,” added Miranda

Premium Business includes a new gastronomic proposition designed by renowned Chilean and Brazilian chefs Pamela Fidalgo and Aninha that allows passengers to rest well and wake-up revived on long haul flights. True to LATAM tradition, the menu will showcase South American ingredients and will also be accompanied South America’s best wines, hand-selected by Héctor Vergara, the continent’s only master sommelier.

In addition, LATAM has implemented new service protocols for cabin crew with fewer interruptions. It has also introduced new premium pillows, bed clothes and mattresses with temperature-regulating and pressure-point technology for every flat-bed seat to maximize comfort.

“With the new Premium Business experience, we aim to continue being the first choice for corporate customers, offering not only industry leading cabins and service, but also an unrivalled network of destinations as well as the best itineraries and punctuality on the continent,” concluded Miranda.

A new cabin standard

LATAM Airlines Brazil’s first renovated Boeing 777 represents the new standard for the group’s long-haul aircraft and is one of approximately 200 planes – representing over half of the global LATAM fleet – that will be upgraded over the next two years. The aircraft features new Premium Business seats with direct aisle access, a renovated Economy cabin and LATAM+ Seats, which offer greater space, a dedicated overhead bin and premium services such as priority boarding.

In the new Premium Business cabin, each custom-designed Thompson seat offers more privacy and direct aisle access, as well as configurations for both individuals and couples. The seats recline 180^o into a fully-flat bed, feature the latest generation in-flight entertainment with an 18” Panasonic personal screen and have ample space for personal items.

LATAM’s Boeing 777 also features a revamped Economy cabin, offering passengers a new look, improved comfort and a state-of-the-art inflight entertainment system with an unrivalled selection of content.

Watch the virtual tour of LATAM’s new Premium Business cabin and revamped interiors.

Flights within Latin America

For passengers travelling on domestic flights and routes within Latin America, LATAM is transforming the cabins of over 150 Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft. The cabins will feature ergonomically designed Recaro seats, offering greater comfort and fast-charging USB power ports, as well as LATAM Play, the leading wireless in-flight entertainment system in the region. Likewise, passengers will have the opportunity to upgrade to LATAM+ Seats.

For more information about LATAM’s in-flight experience visit latam.com

 

France | December 17, 2018–

Press Release:

“On June 22, 2016, due to liquidity constraints, Lumexis Corporation (“Lumexis”) suspended many aspects of its business operations and was forced to terminate the majority of its personnel. Over the past few weeks, the Lumexis Board, Company President (Lou Sharkey) and CFO (Marty Breen) have been actively engaged in a process to find an acquirer for the Company/Assets. Lumexis is currently in discussions with multiple groups regarding a potential transaction. The Company expects to conclude this process in the coming weeks.”

“During this period the Company has been in constant communication with its customers and suppliers. Lumexis management is grateful for all the support received from their customers, supply chain and industry partners during this transition. As more updates and clarification on the future of Lumexis become available, further updates will be openly communicated.”

“Questions to Lumexis may be addressed to ‘lsharkey@lumexis.com’. Please note that due to the volume of inquiries from various interested parties, Lumexis may not be in a position to respond to calls or messages in as timely a manner as we would like.”

Some Relevant History:

If you are new to the IFEC industry you may not know about the elegant fiber optic IFE solution that the Lumexis folks in Irvine developed starting in 2003. We thought you might find some of the highlights from the last decade. Here is a bit of background:

•  March 2009: US Airways trial of the next generation in inflight entertainment system FTTS (Fiber Optic to the Seat) by Lumexis. Link
• November 2009: Lumexis Corporation secures $15 million investment led by Perseus, LLC and wins large airline order. Read the full story.
• June 2010: Their first customer, flydubai… 44 B737-800’s will be post delivery modified in the US and that each seat will have a Lumexis display that acts as an entertainment portal with credit card swipe capability. Read the full story.
• April 2011: TRANSAERO Airlines of Russia, today joined Lumexis CEO Doug Cline in announcing the airline’s selection of Lumexis’s cutting-edge FTTS (Fiber-To-The-Screen[R]) technology, to begin immediately with full-cabin retrofit of four 373-seat Boeing 777-300s this year and three 522-seat B747-400s starting first quarter of 2012. The full story.
• February 2012: Pacific Royale Airways, today joined Lumexis® CEO Doug Cline in announcing the airline’s selection of Lumexis’ cutting‐edge FTTS® (Fiber‐To‐The‐Screen®) technology, to begin building out its fleet of A320 aircraft with five installations in 2012. Read More.
• April 2013: Leading international air carrier Turkish Airlines, winner of the coveted Best European Airline Award from Skytrax for two consecutive years, announced that it has selected Lumexis Corporation’s Fiber-To-The-Screen® (FTTS) fiber optic IFEC system for installation into two of its existing A330 fleet aircraft. The full story.
• April 2013: Lumexis’s Second Screen concept, we contacted Rich Salter and asked about the product, but first, a few words about what it is. The concept is so simple, you are probably using a similar concept at home while watching TV or reading this email. Sitting in front of almost any work or household screen (TV, computer, whatever) you probably have another connectivity device for checking mail, tweets, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. In other words you are multitasking, because you can. The beauty of the Lumexis Second Screen feature is easy to see. The full Hot Topic.
• April 2014: Lumexis has taken a revolutionary step forward in terms of IFE touch screen aesthetics and functionality with the launch of its new Fast Adaptable Swipe and Touch (FAST) graphical user interface (GUI). The full story.
• April 2015: “Lumexis has taken another industry-leading step forward with the launch of its unprecedented new iPAX in-flight entertainment (IFE) product – a wireless-streaming in-seat system at the ultra-low price of $1,495 and weight of only 8.9 ounces per seat.” And lets face it, delivering a wireless connectivity cloud solution to seatback IFE is a lot cheaper than running cable bundles of wires to each seat via routers and division multiplexers. But, the really interesting story here is that Lumexis announced the price up front. We do not remember an IFE hardware provider ad that gave prices in our 22 years of publishing – so this is a first. Let’s read on “Some three-fourths of single-aisle aircraft fly on short-to-medium haul routes that could never before benefit from embedded IFEC,” said Lumexis CEO Doug Cline. “That paradigm is turned upside down with iPAX, truly the first cost-effective HD video tool for earning significant new ancillary revenue from offering a diversity of products and services.” Read the full story.
• May 2015: Lumexis Corporation today announce that their Lumexis Fiber-To-The-Screen® (FTTS®) In-Flight Entertainment system has been made offerable for linefit on both the 737 NG and 737 MAX families of aircraft. Read the full story.
• September 2015: Lumexis Corporation today announced that their Fiber-To-The-Screen® (FTTS®) In-Flight Entertainment system has been selected by Caribbean Airlines for installation on their fleet of B737 aircraft. Read the full story.

Additionally, we should note that the Lumexis Corporation has some of the best employees we have ever worked with. We would like to close this news piece by asking our readers who might have a requirement for some very good technical and business people to consider these folks as potential assets to your companies. If you need more information on how to contact Lumexis see the above press release; however, we will be happy to forward any contact information you require.

Lastly, one of the best parts of working in technology is the association of smart and innovative people who can think how a technology could eventually become a product. In the case of Lumexis, one meeting in the 2004 time-frame clearly remains in our memory. This was a meeting with Doug Cline, Rich Salter and IFExpress. They carried a dissected future IFE computer that interfaced with the fiber optic data network, it had all the participants giddy with a visualized future of inflight entertainment. At the time, this was the newest thing ‘with virtually unlimited’ IFE bandwidth and the discussion and vision of the future could almost be seen as the meeting drifted into the evening. Make no mistake, It is meetings like these in aviation and information technology that are a creative joy to participate in, and events like this that make this industry worthwhile. Stay Tuned!