TRAVEL TECHNOLOGY
Air Travel Bubble | April 27, 2021
Singapore and Hong Kong are outfitting to open a movement bubble. The two urban areas intend to dispatch their isolated free travel bubble from May 26, permitting voyagers to travel between the two with few limitations.
The Air Travel Bubble (ATB) as it's been named will dispatch in late May with an end goal to help the drained travel industry ventures in the two urban areas. Voyagers will be needed to be completely inoculated and step through an exam within three days of takeoff and again on appearance.
At the point when the ATB dispatches in May, only one flight each day will work for the initial fourteen days between Singapore (SIN) and Hong Kong (HKG), conveying a limit of 200 travelers each day. Qualified voyagers more likely than not went through the previous 14 days in Singapore or Hong Kong.
The movement bubble between the two urban communities was initially set to dispatch in November 2020, notwithstanding, was deferred due to a spike in cases in Hong Kong.
Specialists have said that if there's an uptick in the seven-day moving normal of local area cases to more than five, the ATB will be suspended for in any event fourteen days.
"I'm glad that Hong Kong got the COVID-19 circumstance leveled out," said Singapore's Minister for Transport Ong Ye Kung in articulation to the BBC. "It has been a long couple of months, yet the conditions are presently ready again to relaunch the ATB."
The travel industry and travel areas — particularly that of the flight class — will invite the movement bubble. Singapore Airlines lost £1.19 billion in the nine months to December 2020 as its number of travelers shrank 97.6% Similarly, Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific revealed a yearly deficiency of $2.8 billion every 2020.
A week ago, Australia and New Zealand dispatched their movement bubble, permitting Aussies and Kiwi voyagers to wander between the two nations without isolation on one or the flip side. Quite, the destined-to-be-dispatched Singapore to Hong Kong travel bubble is substantially more directed than Australia to New Zealand one, as only 200 travelers each day will want to go between the urban areas.
It's conceivable that we could see new travel bubbles open throughout the planet as nations hope to return to the travel industry yet just for those coming from nations with low case rates and high immunization rates.
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TRAVEL TECHNOLOGY
Sherpa | April 12, 2021
Sherpa, a leading travel technology provider, has expanded its product range with the Travel Reopening Map, which helps people get back into travel. Travel providers and customers are ready to get back on the road, but due to the rapid speed of change in travel laws, what was once simple has become complicated. Partners such as airlines, online travel agents, and cruise lines can use sherpa's map-based UI to help their customers book by allowing them to browse for destinations open to travel as well as COVID-19 testing and quarantine guidelines for both outbound and return routes.
The map was launched by American Airlines as the first partner, making it available to millions of AA customers.
"International travel is an integral part of our global economy and human experience," said Max Tremaine, CEO of sherpa°. "However, planning travel in the event of a global pandemic is a challenge." "Our goal was to create a digital solution that fills the information gap and provides travelers with the real-time accuracy they need to make informed decisions and travel with confidence. This solution is just one part of a larger plan to ease border crossing by allowing travelers to get all of their requirements, documentation, and visas in one place while booking their travel."
The breadth of data is unique to the map; sherpa processes millions of data points from thousands of sources, including governments, airlines, airports, tourism boards, public forums, and media outlets. Other important features include COVID-19 testing sites in-destination and the ability for partners to maximize booking conversions by directing passengers from the map back to their flight destination pages.
The map-based UI is easily customizable and can be embedded into partners' websites and apps through embeddable widgets, APIs, or white-label web apps. English, Spanish (South American), French (Canadian), German, Portuguese (Brazilian), Russian, Turkish, and Latvian are among the languages supported, with more on the way.
About Sherpa
Sherpa is the leading provider of travel identification requirements for the travel industry, founded in 2015 by Max Tremaine and Ivan Sharko. Sherpa's mission is to provide every traveler with the information and documentation they need to cross borders confidently and securely. Sherpa, headquartered in Toronto, Canada, is trusted by over 50 of the world's largest and most well-known travel brands, including American Airlines, TripActions, Icelandair, LATAM, Flynas, and CWT. True Ventures, Narrative Fund, Relay Ventures, Globalive Capital, N49P, TSVC, Golden Ventures, Plug and Play Ventures, Stuart MacDonald, and LP Maurice are among the investors in sherpa°.
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BUSINESS TRAVEL
CWT | September 16, 2021
CWT, the Business-to-Business-for-Employees travel management platform, announced that it has entered into an agreement with financial stakeholders representing over 90% of the Company’s outstanding debt to recapitalize the business and further strengthen CWT’s financial position as the recovery in business travel continues to gain momentum in key markets around the world.
CWT expects to begin soliciting formal approval of the plan from its existing financial stakeholders in the next few weeks and to finalize implementation of the plan later this year.
Key terms of the agreement, entered into with financial stakeholder Barings LLC, among others, include:
Adding $350 million of new equity capital into the business;
Eliminating almost $900 million of debt by replacing CWT’s existing $1.5 billion in debt with new first lien debt of $625 million issued at market rates and a new undrawn revolving credit facility;
Providing CWT with substantial long-term liquidity through the resulting balance sheet cash and new revolving credit facility; and
Providing for all business partners and other providers of goods and services to CWT to be paid in full.
CWT expects to begin soliciting formal approval of the plan from its existing financial stakeholders in the next few weeks and to finalize implementation of the plan later this year.
“This is great news for CWT and our stakeholders, highlighting the progress we have made to position CWT for long-term success and providing significant financial resources to further grow and develop our business,” said Michelle McKinney Frymire, CWT’s Chief Executive Officer. “This is an important and exciting time for travel, as the industry is seeing meaningful increases in demand for the first time since the start of the pandemic. As we ramp up operational capacity to continue serving our customers through the recovery, we are continuing to advance our strategic objectives, including driving innovation and delivering industry-leading solutions. We are pleased to be moving ahead with overwhelming support from our financial partners, who will become CWT’s new majority owners, underscoring their confidence in the market, CWT and our strategy and services.”
Ms. McKinney Frymire added, “Implementation of this agreement will enable us to move beyond the pandemic, accelerate investments that create industry-leading experiences for our clients and travelers, and position CWT to benefit from the recovery already underway. Our teams have risen to the occasion and continued to meet high customer expectations at every turn despite the pandemic’s outsized impact on the travel industry. Looking ahead, our focus remains on providing best-in-class travel experiences for our customers and travelers while maintaining strong relationships with our partners, suppliers and other stakeholders. At the same time, we are excited to accelerate our strategic priorities. With travel demand now increasing, the actions we are taking will enable us to build on our industry-leading position.”
Advancing CWT’s Strategy and Business Momentum
CWT entered the pandemic with a track record of strong growth and delivering on its strategic priorities. Building on this success, CWT has used the period of COVID-related travel restrictions and related demand reductions to accelerate many of its strategic development plans and investments across its innovative products, program delivery and travel services.
As the recovery in business travel, meetings and events gains momentum, CWT’s customer proposition is fundamentally stronger, broader and more robust. Among others, CWT’s many improvements to benefit travelers include:
Patented algorithm search applications;
A true omni-channel experience;
More efficient follow-the-sun servicing capabilities;
An enhanced digital hotel booking experience;
Refined data analytics for greater insight and improving ROI; and
Dedicated resources and services to enable a safe and secure return to travel.
Since its inception, CWT has successfully delivered efficient, safe and connected travel programs from city centers to some of the most remote and hard-to-reach corners of the world, maximizing the potential of technological advancements and human ingenuity. Importantly, CWT believes that a true omni-channel experience brings together people and technology, and is essential for business travel and meetings & events now, and in the future, which is why the Company has been enabling solutions for the E in its B2B4E strategy.
CWT’s early positioning as a platform business, enhanced by strategic physical operations, underscores the Company’s commitment to developing the next generation of skills, closing the gap between talent supply and demand, and future-proofing not only its own, but also its customers’ potential. As a result of this differentiated approach, CWT’s global connections, coupled with local knowledge and the application of innovative, patented platform technology, continue to benefit customers while enabling CWT to deliver unparalleled, valuable and seamless travel experiences.
CWT is committed to remaining at the forefront of innovation, exceeding customer expectations long into the future, connecting people and helping businesses grow.
About Barings
Barings is a $382+ billion (as of 6/30/2021) global investment manager sourcing differentiated opportunities and building long-term portfolios across public and private fixed income, real estate, and specialist equity markets. With investment professionals based in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, the firm, a subsidiary of MassMutual, aims to serve its clients, communities and employees, and is committed to sustainable practices and responsible investment.
About CWT
CWT is a Business-to-Business-for-Employees travel management platform. Companies and governments rely on us to keep their people connected – anywhere, anytime, anyhow – and, across six continents, we provide their employees with innovative technology and an efficient, safe, and secure travel experience.
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