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Boutique airports, airlines are on the rise
Bambi Majumdar Travel, Hospitality & Event ManagementIn a world defined by stiff global competition, heightened user experiences, and demanding social media presences, the bigger is better mindset has been ruling for some time. But some regional airports and smaller airlines have been quietly rewriting this messaging. The reality of the travel industry is that a large percentage of travelers fall into the economy travel and short-haul categories. It is imperative that these travelers, who also bring in the volume of business, be addressed and served accordingly.
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Why are on-the-job deaths of large-truck drivers on the rise?
Terri Williams Transportation Technology & AutomotiveThe number of large-truck drivers who died in a traffic fatality reached a record level in 2017 — the last year with complete data available. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, large-truck occupant fatalities in multiple-vehicle crashes increased by 28.5 percent from 2016. Large-truck occupant fatalities in single-vehicle crashes increased by 8.7 percent from 2016. This increase is the result of several factors. "Behavior is at the root of most safety failures," according to Brian Fielkow, CEO of Jetco Delivery, a trucking company based in Houston that has been praised for its safety record.
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Skift reveals 12 megatrends in travel, tourism for 2019
Linchi Kwok Travel, Hospitality & Event ManagementSkift released The Megatrends Defining Travel in 2019 earlier in January. Through surveys, interviews, and focus group research with travelers throughout the year, Skift reveals 12 megatrends in travel and tourism. For example, one trend is that brands give travelers more control over their experience. It is now very common for travelers to plan their own trips through price alerts and location-based apps.
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Travel2020: Uber’s futuristic air taxi lands at CES
Lark Gould Transportation Technology & AutomotiveWhile Las Vegas is currently one of two cities in the U.S. allowing for consumer testing of driverless cars, the city got another driverless boost recently from CES2019: the driverless heli-taxi. Even though the annual Consumer Electronics Show brought a life-size prototype of the new aerial hybrid vehicle currently in development, it also brought a lot of debate about the future of urban transportation — the good, the bad and the seemingly impossible. The vision is this: sometime in the not too distant future, a traveler, a commuter, or a person in a hurry may be able to choose on a whim to hail an air taxi from a nearby rooftop and take that taxi to another rooftop stop, the airport or even some port on a high-rise rooftop of another nearby city.
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Travel2020 at CES2019 — Technology for a better trip: Part 2
Lark Gould Travel, Hospitality & Event ManagementThere is no place like CES, the Consumer Electronics Show that happens in Las Vegas every year, to find the latest skills that Alexa can perform or new ways to conquer your world one robot, one pair of smart glasses, or one new 8K television at a time. Travel2020 cut through the clutter (and that’s a lot of cutting with 4,500 products to peruse!) to come up with the latest in newfangled travel gear for travelers looking to make their trips more comfortable. This is part two of a quick glance at technology that is changing the way we travel.
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Airports encouraged to invest in anti-drone measures before the threats…
Matt Falcus Transportation Technology & AutomotiveFollowing the drone attacks at London Gatwick airport in December and the crippling closure of the airport to air traffic at one of the busiest periods of the year for air travel, airports are being encouraged to invest in developing measures to counter the threat before it can develop. The actions taken at Gatwick from Dec. 19-21 (and briefly at Heathrow on Jan. 8) followed the standard response when a drone or unmanned aerial vehicle enters the control zone of an active airport. The potentially catastrophic result of a collision between an aircraft and drone poses an unimaginable threat. In the case of Gatwick, it uncovered just how open airports are to this kind of attack and how ill-equipped they are to countering such an attack.
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Surviving weekends on the road
Cindy Belt Recreation & LeisureFor those of us that travel the road, weekends are a special time. It is not because we can finally get away from it all — because we do that every day. But that is the time when we must share the campgrounds with weekend campers. Many campsites are reserved by people who plan their special camping trip for months in advance. Others may be filled by locals who enjoy camping on weekends.
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Travel2020 at CES2019 — Where the robots hit the road: Part 1 of 2
Lark Gould Travel, Hospitality & Event ManagementWhat do you get when 180,000 verified geeks and 4,500 newfangled gadgets descend upon a few long blocks in Las Vegas? A lot of enhanced plastic, paper, wires and a possibly scary vision of the future at what is now fondly called CES. The Consumer Electronics Show that has been happening yearly since 1967 has come a long way from the portable Motorola televisions and next-gen eight-tracks that were once the siren song of a budding battalion of obsessed electronics fans. Today, it is more like an ocean of FOMO enthusiasts looking at the latest in any field of technology you could imagine.
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How is the shutdown affecting travel?
Bambi Majumdar Travel, Hospitality & Event ManagementEconomists are predicting dire consequences for the country if the government shutdown continues. Congress and President Donald Trump are unable to find a solution, as evident from the way negotiations blew up at the White House on Jan. 9. Among the many areas of the economy, travel and tourism may be the industry most affected by the shutdown. Federal employees are already working without pay, and soon, 800,000 paycheck-less employees will be plunged into dire financial straits. Low-staffed and overstressed airports will raise serious questions about aviation safety and security.
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Washington state’s Paine Field gears up for its next stage
Matt Falcus Transportation Technology & AutomotiveNext month, Paine Field, north of Seattle in Snohomish County, Washington, will enter an exciting new phase in its life with the beginning of scheduled passenger services. As the first flights approach, the new terminal building has reached the final stages of construction and looks set to be one of the most attractive facilities for passengers in the country. Flights begin operating out of Paine Field on Feb. 11 when Alaska Airlines commences service to Las Vegas, followed the next day by Los Angeles and San Jose.
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