Month: October 2021 Page 1 of 2

The Steering Committee of the College of Commissioner Generals of Expo 2020 Dubai has held its first event-time meeting, where it applauded the UAE leadership and Expo organisers for the strong delivery and exceptional start to Expo 2020 Dubai.

The meeting of the committee, which represents Expo’s 192 participating nations, was attended by Reem bint Ibrahim Al Hashemy, Minister of State for International Cooperation, and Director General, Expo 2020 Dubai and Dimitri Kerkentzes, Secretary General of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), the governing body of World Expos. Read More

Business travel industry buyers and suppliers alike see a brighter path to recovery following the U.S. government’s announcement it will lift entry restrictions on international travelers and what seems to be the waning of the U.S. late-summer Covid-19 delta variant wave, according to a new survey.

The share of member travel managers and procurement professionals surveyed Oct. 4-13 by the Global Business Travel Association who indicated their travelers were “willing” or “very willing” to travel for business was 78 percent, the highest recorded in the monthly polls the association has conducted since last year and up from 69 percent the month prior. GBTA surveyed 252 member buyers.  Read More

Addis Ababa, 04 October 2021: Ethiopian Airlines has signed Codeshare and Interline Agreement with AccessRail to widen connectivity options for its passengers destined to Western Europe, United Kingdom, Scandinavian, Japan and Canada. The agreement avails AccesRails’ wide rail destinations to passengers of Ethiopian Airlines through seamless connectivity with all journey segments contained on a single Ethiopian Airlines ticket.  

Regarding the partnership, Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO Mr. Tewolde GebreMariam said, “I am glad that we have entered into such a monumental agreement with AccessRail, the world’s leading provider of air-rail intermodal solutions. Each year, we are growing in terms of customer service excellence through collaboration with key partners across the globe. As rail travel is becoming popular, especially when traveling regionally or locally, our collaboration with the worlds renowned flight and rail connection provider helps our customers access extra convenience and better connectivity options. In view of expanding our service to markets where Ethiopian has no direct operations to, our partnership with rail services is a great strategic move in enhancing our customer service. I hope the success of the partnership between AccesRail and Ethiopian would be felt throughout our customers.” Read More

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) called on the South African government to step up its support for the air transport industry amid the COVID-19 crisis to facilitate the recovery of industries supported by aviation such as travel and tourism and unlock the job opportunities and other economic benefits they provide.

“South Africa’s air transport and tourism sector’s contribution to GDP all but evaporated with the COVID-19 crisis which coincided with the closure of one airline and the deep restructuring of two others. In 2019 aviation supported 364,000 jobs in South Africa. Because of COVID-19, about 298,000 of those jobs have been put at risk. It’s a significant impact for over 80% of jobs to be lost if connectivity is not restored. As South Africa’s foreign trade and tourist markets begin coming back online, it is crucial that steps are taken to ensure no more jobs or opportunities are lost,” said Kamil Al Awadhi, IATA’s Regional Vice President for Africa and the Middle East. Read More