OSLO: Norway’s parliament voted through a new company restructuring law on Friday that could help save Norwegian Air and many other companies from potential bankruptcy as a result of the restrictions to stem the spread of COVID-19. The legislation replaces current regulation on debt negotiations and relaxes rules for converting debt into equity. “(The new law) is a more efficient tool to… sort out what parts of a business can be strong enough to survive,” Justice Minster Monica Maeland told parliament. Her comments were not aimed at any specific firms, but budget carrier Norwegian Air is among those likely to…
Author: holidayweekly
KARACHI: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has decided to operate 53 special flights from next week to facilitate Pakistanis stranded abroad. According to details, the flights would be operated for Algeria, Khartoum, Nairobi, Oman, Zurich, Amsterdam, Turkey and Jeddah to bring the Pakistani citizens. The PIA has asked the passengers who were unable to travel to Pakistan from these destinations due to suspension of flight operations amid COVID-19 pandemic to contact the airline’s call centre and provide their local numbers for coordination. The numbers would be used to inform the passengers regarding booking procedures, flight suspension and others details pertaining to…
Air travel will not rebound to pre-pandemic levels for another three years, Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian warned analysts during the company’s first quarter earnings call on Wednesday. “Demand for near-term air travel dropped to almost zero in a matter of weeks,” he said. But when travel starts to return, Bastian predicts Delta will be a different airline. “Safety will not be limited to flight safety, but [will expand] to personal safety,” Bastian said. “People will pay a premium on service excellence like never before.” Flights, which before the pandemic were operating 80-90 percent full, may only be 65-70…
WASHINGTON:US President Donald Trump has said that he will sign an executive order temporarily suspending immigration to the US, as the nation battles the health and economic effects of the novel coronavirus pandemic. According to an announcement the measure was done “in light of the attack from the invisible enemy,” or the coronavirus pandemic, and to protect US jobs. It’s unclear what mechanism Trump will use to suspend immigration and it is also unclear how long such a suspension could last. Last month, the US suspended almost all visa processing, including for immigrants, because of the pandemic. The US has…
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan International Airline (PIA) has reduced its special flights’ fares by 20 to 30 per cent, extending maximum relief to the nationals stranded in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Sayed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari told this to the virtual town hall meeting arranged by his ministry to redress the grievances ofUAE-based Pakistanis. “According to the new prices of PIA, the airfare for the flights operating from UAE to Lahore, Islamabad and Peshawar has been reduced to 1,110 Dirham while the…
MADRID: The Global Tourism Crisis Committee has united behind the World Tourism Organization’s rallying cry for governments to “go beyond words” and begin taking decisive action to safeguard the millions of jobs under threat as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Crisis Committee was convened by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in response to COVID-19. With tourism among the worst affected of all major economic sectors, the United Nations specialized agency for tourism also warns of the social and development toll the economic impact might have. UNWTO is taking the lead in ensuring governments do all they can to…
WRITTEN BY CH. FAISAL MAHMOOD No Doubt, worldwide, this is a darkest time for the travel, tourism, aviation and hotel industry. As global tourist destinations, big or small remain closed and travel company operations continue to be wound down, the industry will increasingly look to the respective governments for bailout packages and its marketing functions to provide campaigns of hope or more simple communications to maintain their engagement with customers. As no one knows how long this global pandemic will last, operators should ere on the side of caution in their marketing communications and simply identify and engage with their…
WASHINGTON: Boeing plans to announce significant rollbacks in the production of the 787 Dreamliner along with a number of job cuts next week. This news comes as the global airline industry is in freefall and demand for new aircraft is at an all-time low. These production cuts will bring down monthly production to just a handful of aircraft. Boeing will cut the production of the 787 by roughly 50% percent, bringing down its 14 aircraft a month to figures in the single digits. This reduction is even lower than Boeing’s earlier planned production cuts to 10 aircraft a month. Boeing…
ANKARA: Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy launches initiative which is due to come into force when pandemic slows to ensure the safety of Turkey’s many tourist sites. Turkey’s Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy has announced a new initiative to certify tourist attractions as ‘coronavirus-free’ when the ongoing pandemic dies down. Ersoy said the normalisation phase in Turkey could begin as early as the second week of May. He assured tourists and Turkish citizens alike that the government was carefully observing the situation. Industry representatives hope to see the tourism sector mobile by the end of the…
BEIJING: China’s hard-hit tourism sector is poised for a gradual recovery and the upcoming Labour Day holidays is expected to see a record number of over 80 million tourists as people try to return to normality after the recent Covid-19 lockdowns. The five-day holiday starting on May 1 will be the first “mini peak season” this year, according to a report by Trip.com Group, China’s largest online travel services provider. It expects double the number of travellers seen during the Ching Ming Festival earlier this month, which recorded 43 million tourists and 8 billion yuan in tourism revenue, according to…