Founded by Max Farndale 1947 - 2018
Air New Zealand has developed an interactive online experience allowing people to explore the best New Zealand has to offer using emojis.Users will be asked to comment on Air New Zealand #EmojiJourney Facebook or Twitter posts with a combination of emojis which would best describe their perfect New Zealand getaway. This will then automatically generate a link to a personalised map of New Zealand for them, with emojis highlighting points likely to be of interest.
Feb 15, 2018 - Qantas is among investors backing a new system under development by a US travel technology company that aims to end airline overbooking and eliminate the embarrassing fiascos in which passengers are ordered off overbooked flights.
Many airlines routinely overbook flights because a small number of passengers don’t show up and the carriers want to fill as many seats as possible before takeoff.
The new system, called Yana, is designed to consign airline overbooking to history. Yana should allow airlines to work out which passengers are most likely to be flexible about their flights and happy to switch to later departures in return for incentives such as travel vouchers, frequent flyer points or an upgrade.
Airlines can then contact these passengers in the days before the flight and make them an offer. This should avoid dreadful showdowns at boarding gates, which have seen paid and booked passengers denied boarding, to scenes of angst and grief. Even worse, there have been instances of passengers evicted from, or dragged off, US domestic flights – providing shockingly bad publicity for airlines.
The tech developer behind Yana, Atlanta-based Volantio, says it has arranged a USD 2.6 million funding round “led by Ingleside Investors and strategic investors International Airlines Group (IAG), JetBlue Technology Ventures, and Qantas Ventures”.
Qantas Group executive, strategy, innovation and technology, Rob Marcolina, said: “The travel industry and customer needs continue to evolve and investments in innovations like Volantio are important to ensure we keep exploring ideas, disrupting the status quo and discovering new ways of working to deliver better outcomes for our business and our customers. As a participant in Qantas Ventures’ first AVRO Accelerator program, Volantio is a great example of the impact that investment in scale-ups can make.”
Volantio’s chief executive, Azim Barodawala said Volantio was “extremely proud that the investment arms of three key global aviation leaders, spanning three distinct geographies, have chosen to back Volantio and its market leading technology.
“Our platform provides a rare triple-win,” Barodawala added. “Flexible passengers receive a benefit for changing their travel plans, last-minute travellers are able to access flights that otherwise would have been full, and airlines can better maximise network capacity and unit revenue, while putting greater predictability and control back in the hands of their customers.”
IAG is the parent of British Airways, Iberia and Vueling. Ingleside Investors represents the interests of the New York-based Israel family. The JetBlue input is from JetBlue Technology Ventures, which “invests in, incubates and partners with early stage startups at the intersection of technology, travel and hospitality to improve the entire travel experience”.
A Volantio media statement described Qantas Ventures thus:
Qantas Ventures was established in January 2017 as the venture capital arm of Qantas Airways Limited (“Qantas”). Qantas Ventures invests in and partners with early and growth stage technology companies that have the capability to revolutionize our customers’ journeys, transform our operations and disrupt the financial services, wellness, data and marketing sectors. Qantas Ventures looks to support the best local and international entrepreneurs who can leverage the Qantas Group’s global footprint, expertise and unique assets to scale within Australia and globally. AVRO Accelerator is one sourcing channel for Qantas Ventures, find out more at qantas.com/avro.
Source: GlobalTravelMedia Written by Peter Needham || February 15, 2018 |||
Feb 15, 2018 - More than 500 tech people are gathering at the international Digital Nations Summit in Auckland on Monday to share ideas and thoughts about what sort of country New Zealand will be like in 2030 and the role technology will play, NZTech chief executive Graeme Muller says. Close to 200 international tech specialists and experts from some of the world’s leading digital nations will outline what they are doing well at the summit. “Countries like Estonia, who have developed digital citizenship and world-leading citizen access to their own data, will be attending. Other countries bringing their state of the art use of digital services include the United Kingdom, Israel, Singapore, Netherlands, Uruguay and the United States,” Muller says. “New Zealand technology, business, government and social leaders, as well as teachers, students and entrepreneurs, will gather to learn what is working well internationally and discuss how to apply technology to create a more equitable and prosperous New Zealand. “While it is a shame that there is a delay in the appointment of a CTO (chief tech officer) for New Zealand, it is exciting to hear that more than 300 Kiwis have applied to be part of the government’s 15-strong digital advisory board. “When a CTO is appointed, hopefully we will have a person who can capture this national interest in the development of a digital nation and help lead and continue the discussions that will come out of the Digital Nation Summit.” Technology is having a massive impact on New Zealand already. A major report released just before Christmas today shows that more than 120,000 people were employed in the tech sector last year and about 14,000 new jobs were created. The report, commissioned by the New Zealand Digital Skills Forum, found New Zealand is facing an 11 per cent annual increase in demand for software programmer jobs. “Technology is such an important part of day-to-day life for all New Zealanders, meaning that just about everyone has a stake in our success as we respond to the challenges of our changing digital world,” Muller says. “Tech will transform the New Zealand economy. It is already the fastest growing and third biggest sector. NZTech, which is running the summit in collaboration with Conferenz, is the representative group for over 560 organisations who provide more than 100,000 jobs and support business growth throughout New Zealand, contributing over $6.3 billion in exports.”
| A MakeLemonade release || February 15, 2018 |||
A Clue is need to repatriate Saudi Funds.
He emerged from his unexpected and unwanted seclusion looking thinner than before and rather more grey and describing the entire ordeal as if it were business as usual, another day at the office. The sequestration of prince Al Waleed Bin Talal, grandson of Ibn Saud the founder of Saudi Arabia, continues meanwhile to raise more questions than it did answers.
Feb 14, 2018 - The construction union, E tū says it is working to clarify the effect of Fletcher Building and Interiors’ huge loss on its members at Fletchers.
“We’re still coming to terms with the fact that the country’s biggest building company is no longer bidding for new commercial projects, which is just extraordinary,” says Ron Angel, E tū’s Industry Coordinator for Engineering and Infrastructure.
“We’re trying to find out what happens next, but we will have members affected by this – though it’s currently unclear how many,” he says.
Ron says union organisers had visited Fletcher sites in Christchurch this morning, where members had been told to expect closure once work is finished on company projects including the city’s Justice and Emergency Services Precinct.
“Our immediate focus is to protect our members’ interests. We hope if there are redundancies our members can be redeployed in other Fletcher divisions. Some will be entitled to redundancy pay, but others won’t,” says Ron.
Ron says E tū has also spoken with members about the factors behind the near-billion dollar losses.
“In part, this is a result of too many people in head office doing the paperwork and pushing up overheads, and too few people on the ground doing the work,” says Ron.
He says a lack of experience in project management also meant a lot of mistakes, especially on the Justice precinct project.
“Our members have told us that 50 percent of that project was built twice.
“The workers say they’d put stuff up and a week later they’d be pulling it down again because the design changed or there were design faults, cracked tiles and the like. And there was too little supervision, with no one taking responsibility for the quality of the work.”
Poor cost control had also been flagged by the division’s Chair, Sir Ralph Norris, who has resigned.
Ron says Fletchers’ losses are “a salutary indictment of the sub-contracting model which is killing the construction industry in New Zealand.
“It means Fletchers has been unable to control costs and quality on these big projects and the result is just gobsmacking.”
| An E tū release || February 14, 2018 |||
Palace of the Alhambra, Spain
By: Charles Nathaniel Worsley (1862-1923)
From the collection of Sir Heaton Rhodes
Oil on canvas - 118cm x 162cm
Valued $12,000 - $18,000
Offers invited over $9,000
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242
Mount Egmont with Lake
By: John Philemon Backhouse (1845-1908)
Oil on Sea Shell - 13cm x 14cm
Valued $2,000-$3,000
Offers invited over $1,500
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242
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