Meetings management technology company StarCite today announced that it has hired Kevin Iwamoto as its vice president of enterprise strategy. Iwamoto, who started in the job this week, recently left his previous post as a longtime member of the Hewlett-Packard travel team. While on the HP team, he served as president of the National Business Travel Association and was named the 2002 Business Travel News Travel Manager of the Year.

Expense management supplier Concur today announced the launch of a premium service offering for its clients, including analytical capabilities, configuration optimization and best practices modeling.

British Airways today confirmed merger discussions with Qantas Airways. BA in a statement said it is "exploring a potential merger with Qantas Airways Limited via a dual-listed company structure," but warned, "There is no guarantee that any transaction will be forthcoming and a further announcement will be made in due course, if appropriate."

Delta Air Lines CEO Richard Anderson and president Edward Bastian in a memo released today said the carrier, combined with its recently acquired Northwest Airlines subsidiary, would further reduce systemwide capacity by up to 8 percent in 2009. Delta said the action "comes as a result of the global economic recession and weaker demand for air travel."

Hogg Robinson Group last week posted significant revenue increases for the first six months of its fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, buoyed by revenue growth in all regions and favorable currency exchange rates. However, CEO David Radcliffe said that for the first time in 38 years he is being cautious as the economic conditions worsen.

Lufthansa today said it plans to launch Lufthansa Italia, a new Italian airline brand that would use a fleet of Airbus A319 aircraft to serve such European destinations as Paris and Barcelona from Milan as soon as February 2009.