health

The end of the lockdown is approaching, and the business travel industry is taking steps to prepare for tomorrow's journeys. Since Monday 4 May, masks have been compulsory for anyone wishing to board a Thalys or Eurostar train. Masks must also be worn at stations. In addition to being denied boarding,...

The exceptional nature of the Covid-19 pandemic led to emergency travel, in particular to repatriate travellers stranded abroad. Traditional airlines were - and still are - in demand, but business aviation demand has also changed with the imminent closure of borders. A study published by PrivateFly...

What does your business consist of, and what geographical areas does it cover? Xavier Bessard - Our textile business was very much focused on India, from where we imported products for distribution in Europe. We have reoriented this business away from the European market to reposition ourselves in Africa. We also have a consultancy business,...

Aéroport Marseille Provence (AMP) is a typical example of an airport company faced with a unique situation: a pandemic leading to the almost complete suspension of air transport. "If you want an idea of our activity, before the crisis we were carrying between 20,000 and 30,000 passengers a day. Today we are...

Like other tourism sectors, including the airline and hotel industries, the events industry is preparing for the upturn by taking into account health and safety issues, which are a priority for employees, event organisers, exhibitors, service providers and visitors alike. With this in mind, Viparis has joined forces with Bureau Veritas to define a set of standards aimed at...

Brussels Airlines will not resume flight operations until 1 June 2020. Initially postponed until 15 May, the resumption of operations by the Lufthansa Group subsidiary has been postponed once again with the temporary suspension of its flights until 31 May, with the airline concentrating in the meantime on...

Freedom of movement, but subject to conditions. Although deconfinement will take place on 11 May as announced, travel will still be largely restricted, and will only be authorised within a limit of 100 km, except for compelling professional or family reasons. The release from confinement will therefore take place "gradually" and "cautiously", in the words of...

Following in the footsteps of Marriott, Accor and B&B Hotels, it is now Hilton's turn to announce its set of sanitation measures required for the resumption of operations. To build these standards of cleanliness designed to reassure customers and guarantee the safety of staff, the hotel group has teamed up with a supplier - RB, manufacturer...

Will the expected decontamination on 11 May immediately result in the reopening of the hotels? Philippe Marguet - The hotels already need to be open. There's a lot of vagueness at the moment. They say that decontamination will start on 11 May, but that cafés, restaurants and hotels will remain closed until further notice....

Despite being grounded, the airline industry remains mobilised and focused on one objective: to convince travellers to board again for business or pleasure. This presupposes a rapid response to health imperatives, and particularly to the problem of social distancing. An equation all the more...

In a post-confinement world, where Covid-19 acts like a sword of Damocles on travel, the battle between rail and air is likely to be fierce to attract future travellers, particularly on relatively short routes. Since the launch of the high-speed rail networks, we already know that the train has little to...

The Covid-19 pandemic has presented the tourism sector with a health challenge, so that it can get back to business under the right conditions. To this end, while others are working on labels, the Marriott hotel group has created the Global Cleanliness Council, focused on developing a new generation of cleanliness standards and...

Since last Monday, the French airline has been distributing masks at the entrance to aircraft to passengers who are not already wearing them, a measure introduced for flights on which social distancing between passengers is not possible. The company was recently singled out for criticism by a France 2 report showing the lack of...

How has CBT Conseil's organisation changed in response to the crisis? Julien Chambert - The ability to work remotely is in CBT Conseil's DNA, and a Business Continuity Plan had already been put in place to enable us to respond to a call for tenders some time ago. Our teams have...

Building confidence. While the resumption of activity in hotels and restaurants depends first and foremost on the decontamination measures put in place by governments, it will also depend on customers' confidence in their health and safety. "Now, more than ever, our employees, customers and partners need to be confident that their...

Will there be more space in economy class when we return to our aircraft? This is probably the most positive consequence that the coronavirus pandemic will have for passengers in what could be the future configuration of air transport. According to Alexandre de Juniac, the Director General of IATA, the International Air Transport Association...

How did a company like GardaWorld, which specialises in security, deal internally with the problems associated with this pandemic? Grégoire Pinton - We stopped all travel. I myself had to interrupt a trip to avoid the risk of contaminating anyone else or myself being contaminated. From the outset, we...

How have the movements of the French population reacted to the coronavirus? Studies on the subject have been multiplying for several weeks now, in an attempt to provide an answer with varying degrees of reliability and objectivity. The report recently published by Kisio - a subsidiary of Keolis - and the Roland Berger consultancy...

Ten minutes: that's how long the blood test adopted by Emirates at Dubai airport takes to ensure that no departing passenger has been contaminated. The experiment was carried out on 15 March in terminal 3 of the Dubai hub, in the group check-in area, on travellers boarding for Tunisia. However, the...

A recent survey published by the GBTA reveals a stark - and unsurprising - fact: business travel has come to a complete standstill. 98% of the companies surveyed have interrupted their international travel, and 92% domestically. Of course, this freeze in business travel is not without consequences for the...