Written by: Moazzam Ali Khan Former Chairman Pakistan Hotel Association The COVID-19 pandemic is a global crisis without a modern equivalence. The lack of precedent of uncertainty, the lives of each of us have impacted across the world. The economic experts explain why the public and private sectors had already started getting the strains way before the World Health Organization declared on March 11, 2020, this alarming situation as PANDEMIC. [huge_it_slider id=”554″] The actions taken by the respective governments, public sector, and the private sector will set a foundation for any such eventualities in the future and will at the…
Author: holidayweekly
MUSCAT: Special flights will be operated by Oman Air for people who wish to return to the Sultanate, as well as to the UK, France and Egypt. The measures have been taken by the Sultanate’s national carrier to transport people who wish to return to their home countries, with commercial flights to and from Oman having been temporarily halted during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. A statement from Oman Air said: “Oman Air will be operating two special flights between Muscat – Cairo – Muscat on 19 and 21 June.” The airline added: “Oman Air will be operating a special flight…
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has ordered aviation authorities to restructure the cash-strapped national flag carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is making losses worth USD 3.68 million per month, according to an official statement. Khan said this while presiding over a meeting on the aviation sector on Monday in the backdrop of the recent Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane crash in Karachi that claimed 98 lives. The flag carrier’s Chief Executive Arshad Malik apprised the PM of the strategies to be worked out regarding the reorganisation of the national airline, during a meeting on reforming and restructuring PIA, according…
SYDNEY: In a creative bid to revive the country’s flagging tourism industry, businessman Barry Robinson, the boss of Gold Coast-based accommodation giant Wyndham, has suggested the Federal Government of Australia to take bold steps to save businesses from coronavirus devastation. Mr Robinson urged the Federal Government to offer all households tax deductions for spending on accommodation and flights over the next financial year. The businessman said the plan would give the tourism industry a massive boost and encourage Australians to spend, amid signs state borders may come down in the next month or so. The tax incentive scheme was put…
BANGKOK: Thai Airways International will resume international flights on 37 routes starting Aug. 1, one month later than originally planned. The national flag carrier plans resumption of services on 26 routes, including to and from Paris, New Delhi, Guangzhou and Frankfurt. On Aug. 2, services will resume on the Beijing, Brisbane and Brussels routes, followed by those to Auckland and Jakarta the following day. The timing of resumption of flights to Milan, Rome, Moscow, Vienna, Stockholm, Sapporo, Fukuoka, Sendai, Kathmandu, Oslo and Colombo are yet to be announced. Meanwhile, THAI’s sister company, Thai Smile Airways, will resume operations of all…
LONDON: British Airways was labelled a “national disgrace” by lawmakers for its treatment of employees on Saturday, adding to pressure on the airline as it juggles job cuts and new quarantine rules. Britain’s Transport Select Committee said that BA and its parent company IAG were trying to take advantage of the coronavirus crisis to cut 12,000 jobs and downgrade the terms and conditions of other employees. “It is unacceptable that a company would seek to drive this level of change under the cover of a pandemic,” Conservative lawmaker Huw Merriman, who chairs the committee, said in a report published on…
Airlines around the world will resume flying this month after an unprecedented shutdown forced by the coronavirus pandemic. Projections released by the International Air Transport Association show just how grim the situation has become as carriers hemorrhage cash and pile up borrowings. Here are four charts revealing the depth of the crisis: IATA, which represents 290 airlines, calculates that the industry has received $123 billion in various forms of state aid. Of that amount, $67 billion or 55% is repayable, creating a debt time-bomb for airlines seeking to survive off greatly reduced revenues in a shrunken travel market. Add in…
LONDON: British Airways, easyJet and Ryanair have launched a combined legal action against what they have branded a “flawed” quarantine introduced by the government earlier this week. From Monday travellers arriving by plane, ferry or train, including UK nationals must give an address where they will self-isolate. They are requested to self-isolate for two weeks, with rule breakers fined £1,000. Home secretary, Priti Patel, said the laws were designed “to prevent a second wave” of coronavirus. However, the move has been roundly condemned by the travel sector. In a statement, the three airlines said: “The UK government’s flawed quarantine which…
COLOGNE: German flag-carrier Lufthansa has said it will shed 22,000 jobs as it downsizes its operations in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak. The airline has predicted a slow recovery in demand and expects to have about 100 fewer aircraft after the crisis. Lufthansa said half the job cuts would be in Germany. The group, which also controls Swiss, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings said it hopes to agree the measures with unions by June 22nd. It added that it hoped to minimize redundancies through short-time working and crisis agreements. “The aim is to pave the way for the preservation of…
BRUSSELS: All European Union member states were urged by the European Commission today, to start easing COVID-19 travel restrictions and re-open borders to visitors from ‘safe countries’. The EC wants travel restrictions on EU common borders lifted next week, and Europe’s ID check-free travel area to be up and running again by the end of June. Once that has happened, a ban on nonessential travel to the continent can also gradually be eased. The European Union executive says the list of countries with access should be based on three criteria: countries should have COVID-19 under at least as much control…