Analysis for The Americas

The travel, tourism and aviation industries across the globe witness policy and upper level changes on a daily basis. It is important to not only keep tabs of these organisations direction, but to also monitor changes in executive branches to see the wider picture of the travel market. CTC - Corporate Travel Community aims to keep you informed of these movements each month, with a full wrap of the key changes across regional markets, while also featuring key appointments announced for the month.

There has been much debate over the effectiveness of blocking middle seats on aircraft and whether the airlines that have utilised the tactic have taken the approach as more of a public relations exercise than anything else. Expert studies have shown that there are clear benefits to have additional space between passengers in the cabin, but the environment and layered measures such as face coverings mean the risk of viral transmission is already very low.

We have now entered into the penultimate month of 2020, a time that we generally start to reflect on the year to date and look forward to some well-earned time off work during the popular holiday period ahead. Whether it is travelling or spending time with family and friends, this is traditionally a busy travel season.

Pessimism about COVID-19’s course in the US is firmly back in a heightened period, returning to levels last seen in Jul-2020 during the virus’ summer surge in the country, according to new research from Destination Analysts.

This year CTC - Corporate Travel Community will feature some topical insights into the world's airlines, airports and country markets. Here, using the extensive profile insights available to CAPA – Centre for Aviation members to deliver a data snapshot at where they sit today in the Covid-19 impacted world, we look at Salt Lake City International Airport, where the opening of its new Concourse B means that all airlines serving the Utah gateway now operate out of new facilities.

One of the most popular forms of cloud computing is software-as-a-service (SaaS), a software distribution model in which a service provider hosts applications for customers and makes them available to these customers via the internet. US SaaS company SAP, which offers end-to-end enterprise application software, database, analytics, intelligent technologies, and experience management, says the crisis has “created an inflection point for customers, a true catalyst to accelerate their transformation effort”.

Throughout the COVID 19 crisis, Southwest Airlines has clearly stated its ambitions to capture more corporate share when demand for business travel returns, and the carrier is using the pandemic to lay the groundwork to become more nimble in attracting corporate clients.

As the holiday season approaches we can expect to see an uplift in travel during the final two months of the year across the United States as many Americans travel for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year. There is an extra pent up demand this year and while ongoing COVID-19 infection spikes and travel fears may dilute demand, Skyscanner data already shows positive signs.

Booking a flight, jumping on a train and even taking to the road was never something we thought about much. If we needed to get somewhere we’d consider the best option for the journey – usually the fastest in these days when time is money – and set off.

Whether you feel safe flying comes down to a personal viewpoint and for many travellers it comes down to more than just the flight, but the complete journey. However, more evidence is confirming that travelling on a commercial airliner is actually a lot safer than many other locations, including shops and offices, and other forms of public transport.