GBTA Collaboratory 2020 The GBTA Collaboratory launched yesterday with an insightful discussion between GBTA Interim Executive Director, Dave Hilfman and President, Avrio Institute, Dr. Shawn DuBravac regarding the economics of the business travel recovery. The Collaboratory webinar series will continue over the next 10-weeks and will provide global perspectives, best practices, expert insight, and actionable…

Calls on Congress to Take Action on Expanded Relief for Distressed Business Travel Industry As the US Congress negotiates a new coronavirus relief package for individuals and businesses, the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) – the leading voice of business travel worldwide – has called on Congressional leadership to enact measures to renew business travelers’…

Congressional Call to Action – ACT NOW to Support Travel Congress and the Administration are again at loggerheads on how to address the Coronavirus epidemic. The reports today are that congressional action is in doubt. The Cares Act we helped to pass in May was about stabilizing the travel industry. This time we need Congress…

COVID Vaccine Tracker: When Will We Have a Coronavirus Vaccine? Researchers around the world are racing to develop a vaccine against Covid-19, with more than 140 candidate vaccines now tracked by the World Health Organization (WHO). Vaccines normally require years of testing and additional time to produce at scale, but scientists are hoping to develop…

Lobbying for Business Travelers in D.C. Takes on New Challenges These Days There’s no silver bullet for fixing the fallout from the pandemic, a leading corporate travel lobbyist has warned. Having ensured the “four pillars of travel” — namely airlines, agencies, hotels and ground transportation firms — were represented during the creation of the $2.2…

GBTA Calls on Congress to Take Action on Expanded Relief for Distressed Business Travel Industry Group requests expanded COVID-19 testing and SBA relief funding to restore the health of the $1.4 trillion business travel industry As the U.S. Congress negotiates a new coronavirus relief package for individuals and businesses, GBTA has called on Congressional leadership…

U.S. Reaches $2.1 Billion Deal with Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline for COVID-19 Vaccine Push The federal government has reached a deal worth up to $2.1 billion with drugmakers Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline as part of Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration’s push to have a coronavirus vaccine widely available by early 2021. The money will go toward clinical trials,…

Three Global Airline Alliances Come Together to Assure Customer Well-Being While Flying Three global airline alliances, that collectively represent more than fifty per cent of the world’s passenger air traffic, have partnered together to highlight the measures airlines are adopting to assure the well-being of customers while travelling. With their Dear Travellers video, oneworld, SkyTeam…

COVID-19 Testing Is Critical to Restart Travel Safely GBTA Urges the EU to Boost Testing Capabilities (BRUSSLES, BELGIUM) As the travel industry braces for a second COVID-19 wave, GBTA, the Global Business Travel Association, calls for widening testing capabilities and requirements across the EU as a better alternative to blanket travel restrictions. “Sudden and unilateral shifts…

What Airports Are Doing to Welcome Travelers Back Richard Golinowski is swimming in hand sanitizer. The vice president of operations support at the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which operates Washington National and Dulles International airports, is on target to soon have more than 700 hand-sanitizer stations throughout the facilities, one of a number of steps…

The World’s Biggest Coronavirus Vaccine Study Begins, A U.S. Trial That Will Include 30,000 People to See If the Shots Really Work The world’s biggest Covid-19 vaccine study got underway Monday with the first of 30,000 planned volunteers helping to test shots created by the U.S. government — one of several candidates in the final stretch…

How Long Are You Contagious with COVID-19 Coronavirus? Here’s a CDC Update The CDC is now saying that if you have mild-to-moderate COVID-19, keep yourself isolated from other people for at least 10 days after you first noticed symptoms. You can discontinue this isolation after the 10-day mark if you haven’t had a fever for…

GBTA Ready to Reset, Move Forward in Days Ahead Op-Ed by the GBTA Board of Directors The past two months have represented one of the most challenging stretches in the 52-year history of the Global Business Travel Association. The massive public health and economic consequences of a worldwide pandemic would have been crisis enough for…

Southwest Airlines to Block Middle Seats Through at least October amid Coronavirus Pandemic Southwest Airlines plans to continue its equivalent of blocking middle seats through at least October. The airline, the only major carrier that does not assign seats, said it will limit the number of seats for sale on each flight in the name of…

Alexandria, VA — The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) announced today that the third-party investigation into professional work conduct allegations against Scott Solombrino, GBTA’s CEO, has concluded no misconduct or legal wrongdoing on his part. In a statement, GBTA’s Board of Directors reported that they received an anonymous letter asserting troubling allegations about Mr. Solombrino.  The…

Here’s When Experts Say Oxford University’s Coronavirus Vaccine Could Be Ready A researcher at Oxford University in the U.K. said on Monday that a million doses of its experimental COVID-19 vaccine could be produced by September, but experts say it’s unlikely they will be administered until next year. Dr. Adrian Hill, director of the Jenner Institute…

Best Practices for Critical Workers Traveling to and from “Hot Spot” States In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many U.S. states and localities, such as New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Louisiana, have adopted interstate travel restrictions to maintain lower levels of spread and contain the virus. Many of these travel restrictions take the…

56% Travel Buyers Have Revised Their Travel Policy in Light of COVID-19 As recovery continues companies look to safeguard employee health and safety As signs of recovery continue in the business travel sector, travel procurement professionals are prioritizing the health and safety of employees according to a new poll released today by the Global Business…

GBTA Retains MCI USA to Undertake Comprehensive Organizational and Operations Review Top-to-Bottom Audit by Senior Task Team Meant to “Reset” GBTA Post-Pandemic The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) has engaged MCI USA, one of the nation’s premier consulting groups serving member-based non-profit organizations, to provide a 360-degree organizational and operations audit designed to reset the Association…

Dave Hilfman Named Interim Executive Director of GBTA Former United Senior VP and Recipient of GBTA’s ICON Award to Lead Association Forward The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) has named travel industry leader Dave Hilfman as its interim Executive Director. Hilfman, who retired from United Airlines as Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales in 2018, will…

U.S. Coronavirus Cases Spike, with India Close Behind On Sunday, the World Health Organization announced another record number of cases recorded in one day, with more than 230,000 cases reported globally. The United States remains the world’s hotspot, with some states seeing huge spikes in cases. If the state of Florida were a country, the…

Reminder: GBTA Coronavirus Poll – Your Participation Is Essential! We are currently fielding the 9th installment of the GBTA Coronavirus Poll. This poll is critical to the recovery of our industry and its results continue to be used by C-suite executives and boards, the media, congress and government committees. As a member association, we rely…

Update on GBTA Convention 2020 Over the past few months, GBTA staff and leadership have explored every option possible to proceed with the association’s 2020 Convention set for November in Denver, Colorado. That said, with the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to spike globally and the Denver Convention Center dedicated to a temporary medical facility, the convention center cannot be…

These States Still Require Travelers to Self-Quarantine or Present Negative COVID-19 Test States are opening back up, but that doesn’t mean travelers are free to come and go as they please amid the coronavirus pandemic. USA TODAY has an update on the states that are discouraging interstate travel by requiring or recommending that visitors and…

GBTA Coronavirus Poll: Your Participation Is Essential! We are currently fielding the 9th installment of the GBTA Coronavirus Poll. This poll is critical to the recovery of our industry and its results continue to be used by C-suite executives and boards, the media, congress and government committees. As a member association, we rely on your input…

Coronavirus Updates: Seven-Day Average Case Total in the U.S. Sets Record for 27th Straight Day Officials in states with surging coronavirus cases issued dire warnings and blamed outbreaks on early reopenings Sunday as the seven-day average for daily new cases in the United States reached a record high for the 27th straight day. “We don’t…

UK to Lift Ban on Non-Essential Travel to up to 90 Countries Overseas holidays and visits to up to 90 countries will be possible for Britons from Monday without the need to quarantine for 14 days on return. The Foreign Office is expected to lift its ban on non-essential travel to nearly all EU countries,…

Fauci Warns U.S. Could See 100,000 New Coronavirus Cases per Day Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the nation’s top infectious diseases experts, told a Senate panel Tuesday that he “would not be surprised” to see the number of daily new coronavirus cases balloon to 100,000 per day if the country does not take action to…

Travel Managers Are Working Out How Companies Can Return to Travel — Is It Worth It? Corporate travel managers are looking for a magic formula to allow employees to take business trips again. Many are working on what’s commonly being referred to as a “Return to Travel” document, which sets out approval procedures and other…