SINGAPORE: Singapore Airlines Ltd said it had secured up to S$19 billion ($13 billion) of funding to help see it through the coronavirus crisis and expand afterward, in a sign of confidence travel demand will eventually return. It is the single biggest financing package announced by an airline since demand plunged because of the pandemic, forcing carriers around the world to ground planes, put staff on unpaid leave and scramble to raise more cash to ensure their survival. American Airlines Group Inc, a much larger carrier, on Thursday evening disclosed it would be eligible for $12 billion of U.S. government…
Author: holidayweekly
LONDON: British Airways is expected to announce it will suspend 36,000 staff as the carrier battles the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. The airline, which grounded much of its fleet due to the coronavirus crisis, has been negotiating with the Unite union for more than a week. The two sides have reached a broad deal but are yet to sign on some details. The agreement means that up to 80% of BA cabin crew, ground staff, engineers and those working at head office will have their jobs suspended but no staff are expected to be made redundant. The decision will…
NEW DEHLI: The Indian Ministry of Tourism has launched a portal ‘Stranded in India’ to help foreign tourists who are stuck in various parts of the country. “With an aim to extend support to the foreign tourists who are stranded in India, the Ministry of Tourism has come up with a portal to disseminate information regarding the services that can be availed by foreign tourists who are stuck far away from their home land,” said the official release. The portal stranded in india.com consists of information around Covid-19 helpline numbers and call centres that foreign tourists can reach out for…
MIAMI: Carnival Cruise Line has confirmed additional cancellations in light of the coronavirus pandemic. It has cancelled sailings on all ships until May 11 and all Alaska and San Francisco sailings until and including June 30. It has also cancelled all Carnival Radiance sailings through and including November 1 and all Carnival Legend sailings until October 30. It is offering a ‘bonus value’ offer of $600 on board credit per stateroom for customers who rebook.
ISLAMABAD: Amid the coronavirus outbreak in the country and consequent suspension of flight operation, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has suffered a loss of more than Rs 3.61 billion in the month of March. According to official documents, 212 flights were canceled in the first fifteen days of March. During these fifteen days, there was a loss of over Rs 455 million on account of landings and other charges. The non-use of Pakistani airspace also resulted in a loss of Rs 144 million. From March 16 to March 31, a total of 1469 flights were canceled. The cancellation of these…
Written by Ch. Faisal Mahmood KARACHI: With the world’s tourism barometers and predictions by local and international tourism leading organizations implying positive signals and indicating that Pakistan is skyrocketing and emerging fast as one of the leading tourism destinations and markets for upcoming year of 2020-21 and beyond. Yes, Pakistan’s tourism industry was moving towards success and progression rapidly. [huge_it_slider id=”535″] Though it was unusual, this time around our federal and provincial governments were focused towards visitor’s economy, particularly the Prime Minister Imran Khan, who discussed and highlighted on many occasions the tourism Pakistan and its importance for our weak…
BEIJING: China’s domestic flights rose by about a fifth in March from the previous month, the aviation regulator said, but that was still less than half the flights before the shutdowns due to the coronavirus, showing the sector is recovering only gradually. The number of daily flights climbed 20.5 percent in March to 6,533, JinJunhao, an official at the Civil Aviation Administration of China, told a press conference on Thursday. That was still just 42 percent of the daily flights before the coronavirus struck. Most of the increased travel demand in March was from labour abundant regions such as southwest…
ISLAMABAD: Serena Hotels has started distributing rations to communities in locations surrounding their hotels countrywide, to support affected segments at a time when the global Coronavirus pandemic is wreaking havoc on the country’s economy. More than 3400 deserving families and households in areas where Serena Hotels are located, including in Islamabad, Faisalabad, Quetta, Swat, Gilgit, Hunza, Shigar and Khaplu have been provided with rations that include food staples and essentials. In addition, the employees of Serena Hotels have donated one day’s salary, with the company double matching the donation as a goodwill gesture, to contribute Rs. 10 million to the…
WRITTEN BY CH. FAISAL MAHMOOD We haven’t seen in our 40 plus years of publication such devastating impact of any menace on travel, hotel, cruise, airline and on ever-increasing world tourism and on world visitor’s economy. Tourism industry all over the world from one end to another has entered into an unprecedented, unparallel and matchless crisis since World War 2.The horrifying thing is that the duration and devastating impact of the killer virus is still unknown. Truly, we never witnessed tourism industry of the world in such big trouble before. As we mentioned that the Tourism industry of whole world,…
KARACHI: As you are aware that due to the ongoing crisis of COVID-19, travel Industry in the world was the first business victim of the virus as abrupt travel restrictions caused the closure of almost all Airports and cancellation of millions of air tickets, umrah pilgrimage, tours, corporate and other traveling across the globe. Travel/tourism sector facing colossal financial losses and are at much higher risk of closure/bankruptcy where hundreds of thousands of jobs are in danger because of predatory, unilateral and unfair policies adopted by IATA and the Airlines. Summary of the issues that directly impact the travel/tourism sector…