Week in Review

The Week In Review post is back this week to keep you up-to-date on the latest news stories on business travel.

Once again, Ebola continues to dominate the news cycle. Two Dallas nurses who treated an Ebola patient tested positive for the virus. CNN reports one of the nurses was diagnosed the day after she flew on a commercial flight. The Washington Post reported that enhanced screening began on Thursday at key international gateway airports, including Dulles International in Virginia, Chicago’s O’Hare International, Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International and Newark Liberty International. This is in addition to New York’s JFK airport, where began enhanced screenings last week.

For business travelers, we’re seeing precautions, not panic. As GBTA Executive Director Mike McCormick told Joe Sharkey of the New York Times, “Given the source of the disease and the destinations you’re talking about, from a business travel perspective, it’s been a relatively small impact so far.”

This message was confirmed after the GBTA Foundation polled North American travel managers and found that the majority of businesses have not yet been impacted by Ebola. Bloomberg News, the Los Angeles Times and USA Today were among the media outlets who covered the poll. Read our blog post for more on our findings.

 For GBTA members looking for more information about Ebola and the risks involved, mark your calendars for Risk Radar: Managing the Medical and Security Implications of the Ebola Epidemic – How will you protect your travelers?, next Wednesday, October 22, at 12 p.m. ET. The webinar is the first installment of a special Risk Radar webinar series brought to you by the GBTA Risk Committee, and it will examine the Ebola outbreak from both a medical and security perspective to help participants develop a comprehensive understanding of its implications to travelers.  In addition, iJET is also offering an online webinar series: Ebola Global Crisis webinars.

 We received some personal news from TSA Administrator John S. Pistole when he announced he would be retiring at the end of the year.  Mike McCormick, who has worked closely with Administrator Pistole as a member of the Aviation Security and Advisory Committee (ASAC) and the ASAC Risk-Based Security Subcommittee, issued a statement thanking him for his highly effective leadership and work implementing a risk-based security philosophy.

 Earlier this week, the GBTA Foundation released a study on satisfaction rates of travel managers in both the United States and Latin America with their Travel Management Company (TMC). Travel Weekly’s Danny King reported that costs are top of mind for US travel managers, while Latin America travel professionals were more concerned about global services and the assurance of client safety and security.

 We will keep you posted on any Ebola developments as well as the rest of the business travel news you need to know.  Travel safe!