The Road to Recovery Continues Next Week GBTA Collaboratory 2020 continues August 24 and is designed to provide perspectives, best practices, expert insight, and actionable takeaways to address the issues facing the business travel industry. The topic for Week 2 is Travel Sourcing: Buyer & Supplier Relationships. Webinars include: Are We Witnessing the Demise of…

TSA Notches Two Straight Sundays of 800k+ Passenger Screenings Passenger screenings surpassed 800,000 in one day for the first time since March on August 9th. A week later, on August 16th, the TSA again notched over 800,000 travelers. While this is still a new milestone, the slow growth in passenger numbers indicates that it is…

New Saliva-Based COVID-19 Test Could Be a Fast and Cheap ‘Game Changer’ After months of frustration over testing shortages and delays, a new saliva test could give Americans a fast and inexpensive option to learn if they have Covid-19. Researchers from the Yale School of Public Health created the SalivaDirect test, which received emergency use…

The Risk of Catching COVID-19 in a Hotel Room Is Very Low If It’s Properly Cleaned, Experts Say Sharing beds, silverware, and showers with strangers during a pandemic is understandably scary. That makes staying overnight in a hotel a no-no for many people these days. But according to two experts, the risk of catching COVID-19…

Domestic Business Travel Continues to Trend Toward Recovery PPE becomes the next ‘must have’ business travel accessory GBTA member companies worldwide, report an emerging willingness to permit employees to engage in domestic business travel, according to the latest poll conducted between August 5-9, 2020. Respondents to the poll; the 10th bi-weekly survey conducted among GBTA’s members…

GBTA Urges for Enhanced Transatlantic Cooperation to Restore Safe Travels Harmonised health protocols and coordinated contact-tracing technologies can prevent further outbreaks GBTA, the Global Business Travel Association, reiterates the importance of cooperation between the EU, Canada and the US to restore safe travels and reboot the economy. GBTA is urging the European Commission, EU governments,…

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…