21 May 2020

CTM will launch integrated airline reassurance data into Lightning online booking tool

As domestic travel restrictions begin to ease around the world, access to health and safety insights will be key to the resumption of business travel activity, according to global customer research conducted by Corporate Travel Management (CTM).

Having imposed strict measures on inbound travellers during March and April, a number of countries are now looking at easing the restrictions and establishing quarantine free travel arrangements with specific countries.

CTM will launch integrated airline reassurance data into its proprietary online booking tool Lightning, enabling CTM’s customers globally to view COVID-19-related airline service features alongside flight search results at the time of booking.

The airline data, powered by ATPCO’s Routehappy Rich Content, incorporates new Reassurance UPAs (Universal Product Attributes) from more than 100 airlines (representing over 70% of global flight schedules) including Asian operators such as Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines and a number of Chinese carriers.

The data spans health and safety measures such as airport and cabin cleaning, health screening, food and beverage hygiene, passenger and crew wellbeing, as well as flexible booking conditions.

CTM CEO Asia, Larry Lo said that CTM had actively listened to customer feedback and acted quickly to prioritise the deployment of new airline data into its proprietary booking technology to support customer confidence as they prepare for a return to business travel.

“CTM’s customer survey data clearly highlights the negative impact that not travelling is having on our customers’ business performance. These insights have enabled our teams to identify and prioritise the information our customers need to get back to business travel with confidence.

“We have taken those insights and prioritised the speedy delivery of COVID-19 related airline features into our Lightning online booking tool, including major carriers such as Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines and a number of the Chinese carriers. This move will ensure our customers have access to the most up to date service information that supports health and safety,” he said.

Seth Anagnostis, Head of Global Sales at ATPCO said, “It’s important to see more companies like CTM acting quickly to address the travel concerns of their customers globally and provide them with the information they need to get back to flying with maximum confidence. Partnering with CTM on their global roll-out of ATPCO’s Reassurance UPAs within the Lightning online booking tool is another step forward for consumer confidence.”