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Mar 15, 2009

ITMSA appoints new team member

The ITMSA is very pleased to welcome Sharon Richards-Lund onto our team.  Sharon joins the ITMSA in the role of National Sales & Marketing Manager. She will be tasked with growing our membership and bringing new Marketing Partners on board.

Any time Sharon has left will be swallowed up by the many tasks and challenges a growing Section 21 company run by Volunteers always has.

Sharon has a solid background in Corporate Travel, having worked for Imperial Car Hire, Diners Club International, and more recently Business Travel Now.

At a recent half day strategy workshop, the ITMSA Board were enthusiastic and positive about the many opportunities in the market place despite the global downturn.

Now, more than ever, the Corporate travel buyer needs to know who to reach out to for advice and support.

If this is your very first visit to our Blog and you haven't yet met us, the ITMSA is the professional body for buyers, managers and suppliers of business travel in Southern Africa.

 

We are a community of business travel professionals who provide our members with an organisation focused on providing advice and support, knowledge, and networking.

 

We hold an annual conference that has a reputation for being punchy, controversial and informative.

 

We hold regular forums where we discus and debate relevant issues.

 

We are a full affiliated region of the ITM (UK & Ireland).

 

This give our members access to global information, useful documents, and the opportunity to contact and talk to people who do what we do every day, who have faced and will face many of the challenge we have and will.

 

We welcome debate and encourage dialog with our peers, our suppliers and industry bodies.

Jul 17, 2008

Cape Town airport voted 10th best in world

16 Jul 2008.

The Skytrax 2008 Airport awards have just been released, and Cape Town International Airport (CPT) has been voted the 10th best airport in the world - well done - not bad for an airport which is under construction! Last year CPT was in 13th place. Just like in 2007 and for the 7th time in 10 years, the best airport in the world is Hong Kong . For the record, here are the top 10 airport in the world (note the Asian dominance of the top 4 spots):

  • 10th place Cape Town International Airport
  • 9th place Helsinki
  • 8th place Zurich
  • 7th place Copenhagen
  • 6th place Kansai
  • 5th place Munich
  • 4th place Kuala Lumpur KLIA
  • 3rd place Seoul Incheon
  • 2nd place Singapore Changi
  • 1st place Hong Kong

And in the regional awards, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo International was voted the second best airport in Africa and Addis Ababa the third best.

In other regional awards:

  • Best airport in Asia Hong Kong
  • Best airport in Australia Brisbane
  • Best airport in China Guangzhou
  • Best airport in Europe Munich
  • Best airport in Europe (central/eastern) Vienna
  • Best airport in Europe (south) Athens
  • Best airport in Middle East Tel Aviv
  • Best airport in North America San Francisco
  • Best airport in South America Buenos Aires
  • Best airport in the Caribbean Mexico City

Source: southafrica.to

May 23, 2008

Rest assured, maintenance under control

Remember it takes a college degree to fly a plane, but only a high school diploma to fix one. This is reassuring for those of us who fly routinely in our jobs.

After every flight, Qantas pilots fill out a form, called a "gripesheet," which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics correct the problems, document their repairs on the form, and then pilots review the gripe sheets before the next flight. Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humor. Here are some actual maintenance complaints submitted by Qantas' pilots (marked with a P) and the solutions recorded (marked with an S) by maintenance engineers.

By the way, Qantas is the only major airline that has never, ever, had an accident.
~~~~~~~~~~

P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.

P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.

P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on back-order.

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That's what friction locks are for.

P: IFF inoperative in OFF mode.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you're right.

P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

P: Aircraft handles funny.
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.

P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.

And the best one for last..................

P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget.


Feb 18, 2008

Letter received from ITMSA Learners

Thank you for giving us the oppourtunity to be part of the event which was held on the 16 November 2007 at Protea Hotel Wanderers.

It has help to motivate us in making sure that we make the best of the opportunity given to us by the Tourvest Retail Travel.

Yours sincerely

Sibongile Wayi, Charlotte Mthonsi and Lindiwe Boshomane

Feb 12, 2008

Going for number 1

The SA Blog Awards have opened and we are asking for your support.

The more support and "hits" we have on our blog the more valuable it will become.  Please take a minutes to visit

please enter btezine.typepad.com - under your nomination - THANK you

http://www.sablogawards.com/2008/nominate?blog=btezine.typepad.com&category=1,6,9,16,25

Feb 11, 2008

Frequent Flyer hyperinflation is coming!!

An article yesterday in the Sydney Morning Herald reads as follows: the article makes some valid points - watch your miles and pay attention to the fuel surcharges your airlines of choice charges you !!!

We've had the stockmarket plunge, and we're going to have the frequent flyer plunge. The number of unused frequent flyer points inside the global airline market is measured in the trillions. Hyperinflation is coming. READ ON ...

Feb 05, 2008

ITM's newly formatted "newsline" magazine

As part of our commitment to improving the communication to our members and to the environment "newsline" will now only be issued electronically and on a fortnightly basis. Each edition will be packed with information and updates on all the events and activity within ITM.

To coincide with the launch of ITM's new website there will be links from brief articles in this publication to web pages with more detailed information and tools relevant to your business needs. These will include ITM Research papers, Project ICARUS updates, new releases of ITM TV footage and events and much, much more.

If you have not already done so please visit the website - www.itm.org -and ensure that your details are correct so that you can access all this information in the Member Zone via a password of your choosing.

If you need any assistance then please contact the ITMSA secretariat - vicky@itmsa.org or felicity@itmsa.org

Best wishes

Paul Tilstone,

Executive Director

Jan 23, 2008

SA ... resilient as always!!

What a very interesting entry into the new year .... rain, rain, rain, rain .... blackouts .... stock markets doing naaasty things .... and oh! yes, did I mention the rain!!

True to form within 24 hours the jokes were circulating and within a week everyone had adapted to life without robots, computers, hot coffee .. and light!!!

Adapt or die, I think one wise Evita Bezuidenhout once said, and boy did those of us who haven't yet (I say YET) packed for Perth take that to heart.

Jokes aside, the impact on the economy must be drastic! But really, how does this impact on us directly (apart from luke warm coffee), how about this; your Travel Consultant grabs the last seat on the flight to that all important meeting, working quickly and efficiently the power fails just as she is about to end the transaction!! In a better lit part of the world, a wide awake consultant grabs the now available seat, floating in cyber space.  When the Generator kicks in 30 seconds later, your consultant starts the process all over again only to discover that you are now wait-listed on the flight!! True story, I joke not!

Unbeaten by the rain, the potholes, the traffic, etc etc, today I was nuked by Lotus Notes!!  Firefox, IE, Outlook, software upgrades, Vista, Office 2007, new software on phones, new phones! Always keeping up as best I could, changing to Lotus Notes was just too much for me.  Fetching another coffee (hot, the power was on), I pondered that perhaps my age finally had caught up with me and my brain was starting the downward spiral, I noticed that one of my team, born in the year I matriculated (groan!! .. are they in the workplace already) was also battling.  I felt considerably better, until, yes! the lights flickered, and the quiet of the next Brown 2B status of Eskom kicked in, and I realised that I had not hit the save button on my ITMSA 2008 marketing plan!!! Ah well, at least my coffee is still warm.

Happy New Year.

Till next time then,

Felicity

Oct 21, 2007

GO BOKKE - YEEEEEEEHAAAAA!!!!!!!!

Well done England...

Blog_rwc_2

Photo from www.thetimes.co.za

Oct 11, 2007

OF PLANES, TRAINS, BUSSES AND TAXI’S

Jeannette and Linda’s trip to ITM UK Board meeting

On a warm African morning we set out for OR Tambo Airport to embark on our journey to Chesham in the United Kingdom. As an affiliate of the ITM (UK & Ireland) a representation of the ITMSA Board is required to attend one ITM Board Meeting per year.

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The ITM (UK & Ireland) Board with Jeannette and Linda.

Itm_board_meeting_2