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1. Vienna, Austria; 2. Melbourne, Australia; 3. Osaka, Japan; 4. Calgary, Canada; 5. Sydney, Australia; 6. Vancouver, Canada; 7. (tie) Toronto, Canada; 7. (tie) Tokyo, Japan; 9. Copenhagen, Denmark; 10. Adelaide, AustraliaEconomist Intelligence Unit
Fogel is spending money to change the awareness gap. Online travel aggregators, or OTAs, as Booking and its peers are known, are among the biggest digital advertisers. The vast majority of Booking’s ad spending goes to highly targeted search and banner ads, but last year the company upped spending on awareness-raising TV ads for Booking. It also created a marketing program called the “Book It List” to promote its most unusual listings, like a treehouse, a lighthouse, and a South Carolina shrimp boat. To drive attention to the listings, the company offered contests and pricey stays in rare, exclusive accommodations, like the farm featured in the movie Field of Dreams.Erin Griffith (Wired)
We are the ultimate opportunistic airline.Michael O’Leary (Ryanair)
We believe we are on a good trajectory.Axel Hefer (Trivago)
The strike — the biggest that Ryanair has had to grapple with — highlights the shifting fortunes of the Irish carrier, an icon of Europe’s cut-price flight boom. Following the brash and aggressive character of its chief executive, Michael O’Leary, Ryanair made its name by cutting costs to the bone and vociferously opposing union membership.Amie Tsang (New York Times)
To the farming families of the Engelberg Valley region, which lies about 35km south of Lucerne in the Swiss cantons of Nidwalden and Obwalden, cable cars aren’t built for ski holidays and scenic views. They’re basic transportation, used to haul supplies and run errands. But the Buiräbähnli (German for ‘farmers cableways’), which are concentrated in the region, also welcome hikers, who can pay a small fee to hop aboard, like an Uber of the Alps.Larry Bleiberg (BBC)
Nach etlichen Verzögerungen soll der BER im Oktober 2020 öffnen. Parallel wird der Flughafen aber bereits ausgebaut. Damit soll vermieden werden, dass er nach der Eröffnung zu klein ist. Das Zusatzterminal soll nach Industriebaustandard hochgezogen werden. Die Vorbereitungen für den Bau liefen bereits, sagte ein Sprecher.abl/dpa (Spiegel)
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The Malaysian airline, already the second-biggest customer for Airbus’s re-engined A320 narrowbody, is weighing an order for as many as 100 A321neo aircraft, according to people familiar with the discussions. AirAsia is simultaneously close to agreeing to order an additional 34 A330neo widebodies, which would bring its total backlog for that aircraft to 100.Benjamin Katz and Anand Krishnamoorthy (Bloomberg)