Chinese domestic air volumes almost back to normal, international still low
>> Chinese domestic flights started to increase again, reaching 11,504 flights on July 27, only 18% below pre-COVID levels. The number of International flights remained stable over the same period (with 1,161 flights, 70% below pre-COVID levels). The same is true for overflights (464).
Italy travel linked to 1 in 4 first virus cases outside China
>> People who had visited Italy accounted for more than a quarter of the first reported cases of the new coronavirus outside China, according to a new study that found most initial infections were linked to just three countries. Researchers from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention used publicly-available data to trace the early spread of COVID-19 to dozens of affected countries in the 11 weeks before the World Health Organization declared it a pandemic. They found that 27% of all the first reported cases were people with travel links to Italy, while 22% had been to China and 11 percent had travelled from Iran.
Winding-up petition filed against Hong Thai Travel in Hong Kong
>> Hong Thai Travel Services, which has been operating in Hong Kong for many years, was sued at the High Court by its creditors for a winding-up petition. The court has set a schedule to process the relevant application on November 4. The creditor who applied for the liquidation of Hong Thai Travel Services was Webport Limited and operated under the name of RTS. According to the RTS webpage, RTS is a company that mainly operates tours to Northern European countries such as Iceland, Denmark and Sweden.
Ryanair fails to win injunction against Skyscanner
>> Ryanair has failed to get a High Court injunction requiring Skyscanner to provide it with email addresses of customers who use the price comparison website to book through online agencies. Ryanair is seeking to restrain Skyscanner and two associated companies from allegedly facilitating the sale of the airline’s flights through other online agents such as lastminute.com and kiwi.com in an action yet to be heard.
Taiwan cruise replaces casinos, spas and buffets with isolation wards
>> Taiwan welcomed back its first cruise passengers this week since the coronavirus pandemic brought the industry to an abrupt standstill. 900 guests were present to sail out of the port of Keelung on the Explorer Dream, according to Reuters.
How to be a survivor: 5 strategies from Chinese travel tech giants
>> With air transportation restricted, China saw air travel plummet more than 54% in the first quarter of 2020. The Chinese travel companies came up with five strategies to survive: advance purchase, virtual tours, niche products, diverse investments, partnership campaigns.
