Airlines
Breaking Barriers
ForwardKeys reports that domestic air travel in China -- which has been recovering slowly in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak -- has now reached more than 50% of what it was at the equivalent moment in 2019, based on issued air tickets. As well, analysis of flight ticketing data reveals a significant uptick in last minute domestic flight bookings in China between May 11 and May 21. During that period, the lead time between ticketing and travel shortened dramatically; 72% of flight tickets were issued within 4 days of the travel date, compared with 51% at the equivalent point in...
TAP Prepares To Restart North America Service
With Portugal completing the three phases of its re-opening this week, TAP Air Portugal is recommencing air service from North America from June 4, with twice weekly flights between Newark Liberty and Lisbon. The carrier also indicated that it will recommence additional service in July with flights to Lisbon from Boston, Miami, and Toronto, each with two flights per week. And this summer, TAP will inaugurate three new routes: July 1 – Three flights per week between Boston and the Azores’ Ponta Delgada. July 2 -- Twice weekly service from Toronto to Ponta Delgada. July...
What The Federal Court Said On May 22
Today, TraveLaw Online’s Doug Crozier and Tim Law of Heifetz, Crozier, Law respond to a question from a reader confused about what the Federal Court of Appeal's May 22, 2020 decision was all about. QUESTION: I hear that the Federal Court has made a decision about whether it is acceptable for airlines to give vouchers instead of cash refunds, but there seems to be different opinions about what the court actually decided. Please clarify. ANSWER: The May 22, 2020 decision of the Federal Court of Appeal did not deal with the issue of whether or not airlines can provide customers...
UNWTO Releases Guidelines To Reopen Tourism
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has released a set of guidelines to help tourism sector emerge stronger and more sustainably from COVID-19. The guidelines highlight the need to act decisively, to restore confidence and, as UNWTO strengthens its partnership with Google, to embrace innovation and the digital transformation of global tourism. Produced in consultation with the Global Tourism Crisis Committee, the guidelines aim to support governments and private sector to recover from an unparalleled crisis. Depending on when travel restrictions are lifted, the United Nations...
Tracking Travellers’ Perception Of Safety
MMGY Global has launched its new Travel Safety Barometer -- a sentiment tracking tool created for the travel and tourism industry -- to monitor American travellers’ perceptions of how safe it is to engage in specific travel behaviours as the country embarks on its reopening and recovery efforts. Designed by MMGY’s Travel Intelligence research and insights division, the Barometer is an informational resource for both business and leisure travellers and the industry as the coronavirus continues to fundamentally change all aspects of our society, including when, where and how we feel...
Welcome To The New Era Of Air Travel
The rate with which the world's airlines begin their likely lengthy journeys to resuming full operation will initially be somewhat out of their hands, a Wednesday webinar hosted by Baxter Media was told. Consultant Gavin Eccles, whose resume includes working for British Airways and SATA, and who serves as an aviation consultant for Visit Portugal, said carriers' decisions are for the next little while to a large degree dependent on when the world's governments lift travel-crippling restrictions aimed at safeguarding their citizens against coronavirus. "You (airlines) can only go...
Flair Launches Comfort Choice Seating
Flair has unveiled Comfort Choice Seating to provide passengers more choices during their travels. The airline notes that recent studies have shown that low-fare travel is important to Canadians. However, many have been hesitant to fly due to the recent events, affecting all airline travel. In response, Flair is now offering passengers who book seats in rows two to six the chance to take advantage of a middle-seat-free-experience for CDN$49. Comfort Choice Seating comes in addition to Flair’s cleaning protocols that include disinfecting the aircraft at each stop using a...
Debt Levels Will Weigh On Airline Recovery
By year end, IATA says, the airline industry’s global debt could rise to $550 billion – that’s $120 billion over the debt levels at the start of 2020. In its analysis, IATA found that: $67 billion of the new debt is composed of government loans ($50 billion), deferred taxes ($5 billion) and loan guarantees ($12 billion). $52 billion is from commercial sources including commercial loans ($23 billion), capital market debt ($18 billion), debt from new operating leases ($5 billion), and accessing existing credit facilities ($6 billion). Financial aid is a lifeline to get...