Airlines
Reaching The Summit
In his keynote address to the virtual audience at ACTA’s Travel Industry Summit held in mid-November, G Adventures founder, Bruce Poon Tip said that COVID-19 has presented an opportunity for both the travel industry and the planet. Who would have thought we’d be where we are today, Poon Tip asked, noting that back in the spring, he never imagined that the industry would have been closed down for so long. And he pointed out that right now, the industry is under a lot of pressure because it simply is not clear “where we’re going.” However, he told his audience that G...
Air France Taking Off With Paris-Vancouver Flights
Air France will be offering two weekly flights between Vancouver and Paris from Dec. 14, 2020 to March 27, 2021. Passengers will be on board the Paris-Papeete flight which is temporarily stopping in Vancouver replacing Los Angeles as the route’s refueling stop. Catherine Guillemart-Dias, vice-president and general manager of Air France KLM Canada, said: “We are delighted to offer travellers who meet the criteria to enter France or any other of the world’s destinations we fly to, with this new option of doing so from Vancouver,” indicated She added “it also gives...
Connectivity Crisis
IATA has released new data that reveals that the COVID-19 crisis has had a devastating impact on international connectivity, shaking up the rankings of the world’s most connected cities. London, the world’s number one most connected city in September 2019, has seen a 67% decline in connectivity. By September 2020, it had fallen to number eight. Shanghai is now the top ranked city for connectivity with the top four most connected cities all in China—Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Chengdu. New York (-66% fall in connectivity), Tokyo (-65%), Bangkok (-81%), Hong Kong...
Americans Taking Off For Thanksgiving
According to research from ForwardKeys, Americans are planning a last-minute return to the skies this Thanksgiving, travelling to be with their families at home or taking a break in the sunshine or on the slopes. Olivier Ponti, VP Insights, ForwardKeys observed that: “The COVID-19 crisis has decimated international air travel and badly damaged domestic air travel. In the past three weeks, we have seen the pace of bookings decelerate and that correlates with the third wave of the virus.” However, Ponti continued: “There are a couple of highly resilient periods, Christmas and...
A Losing Proposition
IATA has released a revised outlook for airline industry performance in 2020 and 2021; advising that “deep” industry losses will continue into 2021, even though performance is expected to improve over the period of the forecast. A net loss of $118.5 billion is expected for 2020 (deeper than the $84.3 billion forecast in June). A net loss of $38.7 billion is expected in 2021 (deeper than the $15.8 billion forecast in June). Performance factors in 2021 will show improvements on 2020; and the second half of 2021 is expected to see improvements after a difficult 2021 first...
A Key To Reopening
IATA reports that it’s in the final development phase of the IATA Travel Pass, a digital health pass that will support the safe reopening of borders. Governments are beginning to use testing as a means of limiting the risks of COVID-19 importation when re-opening their borders to travellers without quarantine measures. IATA Travel Pass will manage and verify the secure flow of necessary testing or vaccine information among governments, airlines, laboratories and travelers. The industry association is calling for systematic COVID-19 testing of all international travellers and the...
Shifting Demand, New Opportunities
Airlines that respond the quickest to consumer demand for sustainable travel could potentially gain a competitive advantage over their rivals, according to GlobalData’s COVID-19 Recovery Consumer Survey. The data and analytics company observed that with concerns rising over climate change and increasing commitment from travel companies to become carbon neutral in the future, cleaner aviation is needed. It pointed out that it’s vital that airlines adapt to this emerging demand and harness technology to create new, greener ways of flying. In its survey (conducted between Oct. 7...
ACTA Takes The Initiative
ACTA is launching a six-point plan in support of travel agencies, making it clear to the federal government that as 2021 approaches, the travel industry will remain in a dire financial situation – facing devastation and widespread bankruptcies -without further government support. The plan that ACTA has presented to the federal government includes the following recommendations: Increase to CEWS to the 85% level Amendments to CERS to 90% An extension to CRB to June 30, 2021 Inclusion in any airline aid package A proposed travel industry subsidy to assist with fixed...