Travel News 07 april 2020, Travel News 07.04.2020, travel news, travel news 2020, travel news 7 april, travel news seven april
Etihad to expand flight schedule from Sunday
Over the past week, Etihad Airways has been operating special flights which have allowed stranded passengers to return home.The departures are also designed to support the United Arab Emirates’ food security program as part of previously announced plans to utilise belly-hold capacity of passenger aircraft for cargo.
These services give citizens of other nations who are unable to leave the UAE due to current Covid-19 restrictions, the opportunity to fly home.
In some instances, Etihad has also been able to repatriate UAE citizens, and carry fresh produce as belly-hold cargo, on the return segments back to Abu Dhabi.
To date, these services have covered a number of destinations, including the United States, Australia, and Sri Lanka.
All of these operations have been approved by the UAE government and we continue to work closely with the authorities on the continuation of these types of operations, with a view to expanding the number of flights on the basis of approaches from a number of foreign governments.
Etihad will continue to offer such services, and from April 5th, will operate a regular service to a number of destinations starting with Seoul Incheon, and following with others such as Melbourne, Singapore, Manila, Bangkok, Jakarta and Amsterdam.
These destinations are subject to government approvals.
In Dubai, Emirates confirmed a similar move earlier.
More than 5,000 hospitality industry professionals have joined Hospitality Tomorrow, a free online summit, taking place today.
The event will examine the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the hospitality industry.
The event features an impressive array of speakers, all giving their time free of charge to participate.
Highlights on the agenda include:
Bench Events launches Hospitality Tomorrow to global audience
- Paul Stoltz, chief executive of Peak Learning and author of Adversity Quotient, discussing how we survive and craft our response in this moment of truth. He will also be interviewed by HARDtalk presenter, Stephen Sackur.
- Roger Bootle, chairman of Capital Economics, assessing the economic impact of Covid-19.
- Amr AlMadani, chief executive, royal commission for AlUla, and Puneet Chhatwal, chief executive, Indian Hotels Company, considering how to sustain growth through adversity.
- A top team from HAMA Global, representing over a million hotel rooms, sharing their experiences of the crisis from an asset management perspective.
- Minister Najib Balala, cabinet secretary, ministry of tourism and wildlife, Kenya, and Roger Dow, chief executive, United States Travel Association, exploring with Anita Mendiratta, special advisor to the secretary general, UNWTO, the creation of global coalitions readying for recovery.
- Olivier Jager, chief executive, ForwardKeys and Robin Rossmann, managing director, STR, talking to Nick van Marken, managing director, van Marken Limited, about spotting the green shoots of recovery.
- Andrew Sangster, owner, hotel analyst, evaluating the post-virus investment landscape with Desmond Taljaard, managing director, hotels, L&R, and Paul Slattery, director, Otus & Co.
- In addition, there are breakout sessions featuring many more top executives, covering the prospects for adventure travel, crisis management tips from around the world, the post-corona age, the role of hospitality in community resilience and how to capitalise on the downtime.
- Other popular conference activities will also be replicated online, including speed networking, which will give participants a series of three-minute one-on one-video calls with other delegates.