American Express Global Business Travel has reached an agreement with Air France-KLM that enables customers to bypass a surcharge on air fares through participating global distribution systems, while maintaining access to content.

American Express Global Business Travel has purchased the 35 per cent equity share held by Barceló, a minority shareholder, in American Express Global Business Travel Spain. American Express Global Business Travel Spain is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of American Express Global Business Travel.

American Express Global Business Travel has appointed David Thompson as its new chief information and technology officer. He formally assumes the role later this year and will be based in Phoenix, Arizona.

With global travel facing an ever-growing number of security threats, corporate travel buyers are dealing with a growing number of traveller concerns, and struggling to adopt the tools necessary to address them. But according to new research from the Association of Corporate Travel Executives, underwritten by American Express Global Business Travel, travel managers increasingly recognise they have a central role to play in fulfilling their company’s duty of care obligations to travelling employees.

American Express Global Business Travel has appointed Martine Gerow as its new chief financial officer. She will be based in London and brings a wealth of industry experience to the organisation.

American Express Global Business Travel has completed the acquisition of KDS, a global provider of integrated travel technology headquartered in France. Announced in August, this acquisition is part of GBT’s broader investment strategy to develop a suite of integrated digital services for business travellers, bolstering its core technology platform with KDS’ integrated travel SaaS technology.