Travel Roundup: Delta's Air France and KLM Deal, MGM Mirage in Dubai, IHG Builds Budget Hotels and More

Delta, Air France and KLM sign deal — Delta Air Lines Inc., Air France and KLM Group signed a deal today, combining their two different agreements into a “trans-Atlantic powerhouse” that could raise $12 billion a year in revenue. The three airlines will share costs, branding, governance and advertising. Three chief executives and a management committee are slated to head the trifecta. The partnership will cover flights between North America and Europe, Amsterdam and India, and North America and Tahiti. [Source: Associated Press]

MGM Mirage to run Dubai hotels — MGM Mirage signed an agreement  to run MGM Mirage hotels there, according to reports. Pearl Dubai FZ, developers of a $4 billion luxury project in the Dubai Pearl, will own and finance the 350-room MGM Grand hotel, along with other hotels, which MGM Mirage would manage. The Dubai Pearl is on the Persian Gulf coast on Palm Jumeirah Island. [Source: Las Vegas Sun]

IHG hopes makeover attracts business travelers to Holiday Inn — Intercontinental Hotel Group hopes its $1 billion makeover of its Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express chains will attract more business travelers on a budget. “Nobody ever got busted internally from turning in an expense report from Holiday Inn,” said Jim Anhut, chief development officer for the hotel group. Hotels have experienced a sharp drop in business travel, particularly at luxury hotels. Industry experts says business travelers are now staying at less expensive hotels to cut costs. That trend may benefit InterContinental, which is in a three-year global make-over of its chains. So far, the madeover properties reported slightly higher revenue per available room. [Source: Reuters]

Flight 1549 passengers get luggage from bottom of Hudson River — Passengers on US Airways Flight 1549, which landed in the Hudson River Jan. 15, are now receiving FedEx packages of dried-out and cleaned belongings that sank with the plane. All passengers and crew climbed aboard boats and life rafts belore the plane sank to the bottom of the river. The FedEx packages include wallets, handbags, coats, camera, jewelry, clothing and paper. US Airways and another company spent four months sorting through the 36,000 belongings from the recovered plane. [Source: The Australian]