News in brief from Travelodge, GTA, Louvre Hotels, Berlin Airport, Fraport and Star Alliance.
Travelodge posts 11% rise in pre-tax earnings
Budget hotel chainTravelodge posted an 11% rise in pre-tax earnings to £57.9m for 2008 compared with £52.3m in 2007.
The group, which operates 380 hotels in the UK, Ireland and Spain, said it enjoyed a 19% rise in revenue during the year.
This took its revenue form £243.8m in 2007 to £289.7m last year.
The number of rooms sold rose by 9% to 6m while occupancy levels were at 74%.
It said that it achieved during the years it planned growth for the UK by opening 39 new hotels (3,844 rooms) which created 750 new jobs.
www.travelodge.co.uk
GTA signs deal with Louvre Hotels
GTA by Travelport, a travel wholesaler, has signed a distribution deal with Louvre Hotels which has more than 830 properties in nine countries across Europe.
Under the agreement, GTA will include the chain's 30,000 rooms in its inventory.
Kurt Ekert, GTA' chief operating officer, said: "The addition of Louvre Hotels' brands to our global inventory further demonstrates GTA's commitment to providing the richest inventory in the industry to our clients."
www.gta-travel.com www.louvrehotels.com
EC approve Berlin Airport finance
The European Commission has approved €654.5m capital increases for the building of the Berlin Brandenburg International Airport.
Reuters reported that the EC also approved a 10% guarantee for up to €2.4bn from the public shareholder of the airport operator Flughafen Berlin Schoenefeld and €74m in an infrastructure grant.
The total cost of the airport which will replace the German's capital three smaller airports at Tegel, Schoenefeld and Templehof (now closed), is €3.6bn, mainly private investment.
www.berlin-airport.de
Fraport forecasts slump in profits
Frankfurt airport operator Fraport said it expects it 2009 operating profit to fall 15% year-on-year , in line with expectations.
Full-year pre-tax earnings could slump to between €500m ($680m) and €530m this year as demand for air travel continues to decline.
Fraport has already said it expects sales to decline as the global economic downturn continues to affect business travel.
Passenger numbers at Frankfurt is expected to shrink by 6-9% this year, Fraport said.
www.fraport.com
Star Alliance enhances conventions product
Star Alliance has enhanced its Conventions Plus product to include travel to major sports and cultural events.
The airline alliance said it was keen to target a new group of event organisers on its network.
Conventions Plus aims to give event organisers access to simplified travel arrangements across the Star Alliance network.
Star Alliance said organisers would also receive a support programme including tickets and promotional help.
www.staralliance.com