Airlines
Need To Compete
IATA -- describing travel as being in a “free fall” and the airline industry as being “bare bones” due to the impact of COVID-19 -- is advising Caribbean governments to cut passenger taxes if they wish to be competitive when service is restored. Peter Cerda, IATA’s regional vice president for the Americas, says that the state of the global airline sector -- including carriers in the Caribbean -- is “as bad as one could expect,” and the industry will need government support to resume any form of service. In this week’s Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) podcast,...
Safe Travels
The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has unveiled a range of new worldwide measures to restart the sector. The new measures are have designed to rebuild confidence among consumers so they can travel safely once the restrictions are lifted. Called Safe Travels, the new protocols provide consistency to destinations and countries as well as guidance to travel providers, operators and travellers on the new approach to health and hygiene in the post COVID-19 world. The health and safety of travellers and workers is put at the heart of the new global protocols, which have been...
UK, France, EU Updates On Border Measures
In his address to the United Kingdom yesterday evening, British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson outlined plans to carefully reopen the nation’s economy. Outlining the plans, the British PM said of the way forward: “I must stress again that all of this is conditional, it all depends on a series of big Ifs. It depends on all of us – the entire country – to follow the advice, to observe social distancing, and to keep that R down.” And Johnson also indicated that “to prevent re-infection from abroad, I am serving notice that it will soon be the time – with transmission...
Air Update: IATA, Nanaimo, Air France, KLM & More
IATA says that while it supports the wearing of face coverings for passengers and masks for crew on board aircraft “as a critical part of a layered approach to biosecurity to be implemented temporarily when people return to traveling by air, it does not support mandating social distancing measures that would leave ‘middle seats’ empty. The global airline industry association argues that evidence suggests that the risk of transmission on board aircraft is low, pointing out that mask-wearing by passengers and crew will reduce the already low risk, while avoiding the dramatic cost...
Air Canada Takes Off With CleanCare+ Program
Air Canada has launched Air Canada CleanCare+, a comprehensive program for personal safety and enhanced aircraft grooming to provide customers greater peace of mind during all stages of travel. The new program is designed to reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19 through such measures as mandatory pre-flight customer temperature checks in addition to required health questionnaires, seat assignment policies to allow for more personal space in Economy Class on all flights until June 30, 2020, and by providing all customers with care kits for hand cleaning and...
A Beacon Of Hope
Travel and analytics company, Cirium is reporting that domestic airline capacity in China is beginning to recover, with over 30% of its domestic capacity returning in the past two months. Cirium’s data indicates that China’s domestic capacity has recovered from a peak year-on-year drop of 71% on Feb. 24 to down being down just 33% on April 22. As many countries in Asia have passed what is hoped to be the peak of the pandemic, Cirium’s data shows trends of increased air travel capacity for the region, with intra-Asia capacity improving by 10% between April 14 and April...
Farelogix Helping Carriers With Social Distancing
Farelogix reports that many of its airline customers – including a tier one U.S. carrier – are using the FLX Merchandise offer engine to support in-flight social distancing. The solution dynamically adjusts seat maps to ensure individual travelers are seated apart while on board a flight, while enabling flexibility for families traveling together. Jim Davidson, CEO of Farelogix, said: “With our FLX Merchandise rules engine, we have always said ‘if you can dream it, you can build a dynamic rule for it’ and once again this is proving true.” He pointed out that: “To...
Air Canada Reports Q1 Results
Air Canada reported first quarter 2020 EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of $71 million compared to first quarter 2019 EBITDA of $583 million. The airline reported an operating loss of $433 million compared to operating income of $127 million in the first quarter of 2019. At March 31, 2020, unrestricted liquidity amounted to $6.523 billion compared to unrestricted liquidity of $7.380 billion at December 31, 2019. Commenting on the results, Air Canada president and chief executive officer, Calin Rovinescu said: “Our first quarter...