Touchless travel is top of mind for passengers today. Most developments on that front are for limited scenarios, such as just bag drop or just flight boarding gates. SITA and NEC want to change that through a new partnership launched today. The pair will integrate NEC’s I:Delight identity management platform with SITA Smart Path and SITA Flex to enable a secure walk-through travel experience from curb to aircraft.
Ground Services
The "new normal" of travel: FlightPlan survey reveals industry expectations
Traveling by air today brings a new set of challenges and concerns for passengers, but the means to address them remain scarce. A survey conducted as part of the Inmarsat/APEX FlightPlan event earlier this year reveals what industry executives believe the future holds. And follow-up conversations with some of those parties reveal how it might even get paid for.
July’s magic: The Weekly Wrap–3 July 2020
As the calendar rolled over to July the global aviation community saw significant wins. Borders reopened, airlines resumed or increased flight levels. And, perhaps most exciting, lounges are reopening, too. Get details on that and lots more in this edition of The Weekly Wrap
Qantas lounges reopen in Australia, inflight wifi service resumes
Qantas will reopen eleven of its airport lounges to kick off the month of July as travel and venue restrictions ease across Australia. The lounges shuttered on 23 March owing to government restrictions. The reopened lounges will welcome fewer passengers owing to new capacity limitations, and operate slightly differently than they did earlier this year.
JetBlue plans to outsource airport operations at (more) smaller destinations
The cost cutting continues for airlines. Federal payroll subsidies will end on October 1, 2020, and with that the requirement to keep the current staffing levels. For JetBlue this translates into a decision finalized this week to contract out for staffing at some of its smaller stations. In a letter to airport employees on Tuesday […]
Air travel is bouncing back: Can the trend hold??
The restart is on. While the past few weeks have seen offerings and traffic slowly begin to rise this week the pace is clearly shifting, with the US and Europe hitting a number of milestones.
Going digital with APEX Experience: The Weekly Wrap-12 June 2020
This week we’re going behind the scenes with the APEX Media team to talk about the latest issue of the APEX Experience Magazine, the first all-digital edition in history. Plus Delta’s new plans for inflight connectivity, more connecting options and a way to zap diseases on board with UV-C light.
From pre-flight massages to COVID-19 testing: XpresSpa pivots to XpresCheck at JFK
Few are traveling and those who are tend to avoid direct interactions at the airport. That’s bad news for XpresSpa, provider of spa services at airports around the globe. The company sees a silver lining, however, as it pivots to deliver COVID-19 testing in terminals.
Slivers of normalcy: Air New Zealand lounges reopening
Demand for air travel is up significantly in New Zealand, though still massively below 2019 levels. And now some passengers will have a slightly more comfortable travel experience as the carrier’s airport lounge network begins to reopen.
TSA implementing lower-touch screening protocols
The TSA screening process will look a little different next time you pass through an airport. The agency is adjusting its passenger screening protocols to reduce touch points where travelers and screeners must interact.