AirPlus Global Reach Editorial Office talks with Katinka Balogh, Area Sales Manager South Eastern Europe and Martin Knaisl, Area Sales Manager Northern Eastern Europe about trends, opportunities, challenges and developments in the eastern european countries.

Katinka Balogh

AirPlus: What are the main trends and developments concerning Travel Management in your region?

We are still seeing an economic downturn throughout Eastern Europe. The majority of our economy is export-oriented, so we are highly dependent on the global trade climate and GDP performance. The main trend is managing company costs more effectively and travel management is one of our top priorities. The current situation in the travel industry has given us some opportunities. The average price of a plane ticket has decreased again, seats in lower booking classes are available much longer and airlines prefer to sell at maximum capacity.

Martin Knaisl

At the same time, we can say that the trends are also industry-specific. Most of the companies that have decided to start cutting back on business travel are from the automobile as well as other manufacturing industries; however, companies in the pharmaceutical or IT sector are maintaining the same volume of corporate travel.

AirPlus: How mature is Travel Management in your market?

In particular, multinational companies are ready for new solutions and open to new ideas. I have also noticed that there is a trend for companies to have a manager who has more experience from the “West”. In these multinational companies, management is keen to find solutions to save money not by stopping travel, but rather by searching for new opportunities. There are also companies without a centralized travel process; the management has no information or control over the travel spending. Sometimes there is no one taking responsibility and the company focuses on other priorities. However, with the Travel Management solutions that are available, offered by Travel Management suppliers, the company could save a lot of money, even up to 40% compared to their current travel-related costs.

AirPlus: How is Travel Management perceived by the senior management of your customers?

Travel management is highly mature among all big multinational companies. Travel policy is a standard part of company rules and senior management regularly checks to ensure compliance.

Again it depends on the company. Multinational companies are generally much more focused on TM than national companies or multinational companies where there is no strong oversight from headquarters. A company’s perspective regarding TM is also closely related to the company’s travel spending. For example, in Eastern Europe the average business travel costs amount to only about 150,000 Euros/year, which is significantly less than the average in Western Europe.

AirPlus: What do you see as the biggest opportunity and the biggest challenge for Travel Management in your country/region or area?

The biggest opportunity in our region is our current position of being able to adapt any solutions, new ideas, and/or what has already been tested in other countries. We can already see all the benefits and choose only those programs, processes, etc. that are suitable to our organization without testing them and/or taking too much risk. The challenge, of course, is in changing our perspective. My experience is that, in this critical economic situation, the local employees – even on the management level – refuse to implement new solutions because they have a fear that the new process won’t work and they are worried they might receive negative feedback from colleagues or management or even lose their job. At many companies, I feel that people are focusing on doing their jobs at the highest level, but without taking on any new tasks in order to avoid the associated risk. That is one reason why it is so important to keep in touch with the travel manager, the secretary, the finance team, etc., until everything is going smoothly and the customer no longer needs our daily or weekly support. After sales, consulting is extremely important!

AirPlus: Where do you see the biggest opportunities (Travel Management related) for your customers – where can they find the greatest savings?

Travel management can deliver significant savings. As the general knowledge of modern technologies for travel booking processes and payment instruments is not very high, we can expect a boom in next couple of years. AirPlus is a unique partner that can be integrated into almost all technology systems, e.g., SAP or Oracle.
The most important thing for travel managers will be to have a tool that helps to control and monitor the travel spending. This is what missing in many organizations at the moment. The other opportunity could be that companies are discovering how suppliers such as AirPlus could help them make even their day-to-day business easier. Clients are confirming how much our tools could support them, e.g., automating their accounting and booking work, simplifying their approval process, etc.

AirPlus: What are the most important strengths of AirPlus in your markets?

The most important benefit of AirPlus in Eastern Europe is the flexibility of our solutions. We are the one and only supplier that first analyzes the company’s processes and expectations and then finds a solution together with management, offering a tailor-made process. Everything is customized with AirPlus and our clients feel that we understand their needs and follow their requests.

We can provide perfect data quality and technology support. With the most important strategy being “save, save, save,” AirPlus can deliver additional savings through automation and lower accounting costs. In every Eastern European country, AirPlus is the partner that has the local knowledge and knows what the main issues and the day-to-day challenges are and what the companies are facing. We are here and ready to help them solve these problems together. We offer local help and local solutions in cooperation with multinational and local travel agencies, airlines and other suppliers to the travel industry and make our clients happy and satisfied with regard to their business travel and its costs.