Sam Keene, Covington Vice President of Business Development, attended the annual Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) Convention in San Diego in August. The GBTA convention is the largest gathering of corporate travel buyers and suppliers in the world. Attendance this year was almost 7,000 and is expected to increase when the convention convenes in Los Angeles in 2014. GBTA is the largest association serving the business travel industry, and the largest group that lobbies on behalf of business travelers at the congressional and state legislature levels. GBTA Convention consists of many opportunities for attendees to participate in sessions and hear from world leaders on subjects such as risk management, forecasting, travel management programs, meeting management and mobile applications. GBTA Convention also hosts the largest trade show in the business travel industry.

Sam attended numerous sessions on various business travel-related topics, but said he most enjoyed the Airline CEO panel in which selected CEO’s of various US and Global airlines were led in a moderated discussion of issues, advancements, and futures. Sam reports, “Fuel efficiencies with new generation engines, combined with lower aircraft weights from using carbon panels instead of aluminum, will have a dramatic impact on industry initiatives towards sustainability while lowering operating costs. The United States’ continuous movement toward FAA Reauthorization (NextGen) will allow travelers to experience shorter flying times between origin and destination simply by moving flight navigation to a GPS type of platform versus the current radio beacon technology that dates back several decades. Some analysts expect the first year savings in fuel alone from NextGen could top $1B.”

Two of the key speakers this year were Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton. Sam said, “Both were engaging and gave outstanding perspectives of their years in Washington. It was also interesting to hear the First Ladies’ points of view, given that the key speakers at the 2012 convention were George Bush and Bill Clinton!”

Sam is serving his second term as President of the Virginia Business Travel Association (VBTA) which is one of 38 Chapters of GBTA. He has also served the past two years on the Chapter Presidents Council Board of Directors. For information about membership in VBTA or GBTA, please contact Sam Keene.