Energy companies have traditionally operated fairly generous travel programmes, with business class travel and four or five-star hotels the norm, but the slump in oil prices has changed all that.

The dramatic fall in the price of ‘black gold’ has led to many organisations that work in the sector embarking on major cost-cutting measures in order to reduce travel spend.

With some experts forecasting the price of oil to drop even further, we here at 3SIXTY are not seeing any relaxation of the cost-saving measures implemented when the oil price originally dropped in 2014.

Of course, drastic action means not travelling at all, but in reality some travel is essential and it’s here that a good working relationship between the organisation and their TMC is paramount.

We’re also seeing increases in reliance on independent consultants to oversee such changes.

Where air travel is still essential, the best measure of successful cost reduction is to compare the average ticket costs, pre and post the implementation of cost saving programmes, to the most frequented destinations. It’s a real comparison and one which senior management can relate to easily.

One energy company we’re currently working with has seen average air ticket prices reduced by over 50 per cent and that’s without any change to the class of travel booked.

They’ve achieved this by taking three simple but important actions:

• Using indirect (and cheaper) routes to the final destination. Connecting via European airports like Amsterdam and Frankfurt doesn’t always extend journey times massively.

• Ensuring people book at least 21 days in advance. This is quite possible with regular travellers or ‘rotators’.

• Finally, regular updates of average ticket prices are communicated to all travellers, normally on a departmental basis to encourage a level of internal competition.

We always see mavericks who will try anything to travel on their favourite airlines but, sooner or later, the comparison in average fares between the compliant and maverick travellers starts to demonstrate the savings.

Once a department sticks out like a sore thumb, it’s surprising how quickly things change.