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Airports face significant drop in revenues through the end of 2020
Matt Falcus Travel, Hospitality & Event ManagementEven with bailouts and airlines easing out of lockdown, airports across the globe are facing a significant drop in revenues, which could challenge their futures and put on hold any ambitious growth or redevelopment plans until profits return. As the dust settles to some degree and airlines start increasing schedules this month, airports and analysts are beginning to assess the damage that has been caused through months of the coronavirus lockdown.
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US payrolls add 2.5 million jobs amid reopenings; unemployment drops to…
Seth Sandronsky Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementEmployers added 2.5 million nonfarm jobs in May after April's 20.5 million layoffs, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. May's rate of unemployment dropped to 13.3% versus 14.7% in April. Some economists had spoken of May's unemployment rate reaching 20%, rivaling the depths of the Great Depression. Instead, the labor market improved due to a partial resuming of economic activity after its curtailment in March and April to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, some areas of the economy did not rebound in May.
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Federal agency sets final rule on truckers’ hours of service
Gail Short Transportation Technology & AutomotiveDrivers of large, heavy trucks must regularly meet tight deadlines set by shippers and receivers to deliver goods to warehouses and other customers on time, and fatigue can make truckers' jobs both difficult and risky. To help keep fatigued and drowsy drivers of commercial motor vehicles off the road, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) sets hours of service (HOS) regulations for truck drivers. This spring, the FMCSA presented its final rule on updates to the HOS rules to give drivers more flexibility regarding when and how long they can take breaks.
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Trails for two-wheelers: A look at the United States Bicycle Route System
Dave G. Houser Recreation & LeisureMissouri’s Katy Trail State Park is a cyclist’s dream. Created by repurposing a 237-mile-long stretch of the old Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad, the bicycle trail cuts across Missouri’s midriff with over half its length following Lewis & Clark’s path up the Missouri River as they launched their epic expedition of discovery. This trail is typical of a fast-growing number of long-distance cycling routes crisscrossing America that have inspired development of a national cycling route network known as the United States Bicycle Route System (USBRS).
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The new normal may be anything but
Linda Popky Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementMaybe we've hit bottom. Three months into the COVID-19 lockdown, it appears that mitigation measures have "flattened the curve." Measures are being taken to reopen the economy on some level in just about every state in America. How far and how fast this will proceed remains to be seen. A common refrain is that we are trying to "get back to normal." There’s only one problem. Those days are gone — if not forever, for a very, very long time.
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The ABCs of cargo insurance
Gail Short Distribution & WarehousingAs COVID-19 swept through Wuhan earlier this year, China fought to contain the spread of the virus by locking down the city and closing the port of Fuzhou from vessels from several foreign countries, including the United States. Subsequently, exports to the United States fell sharply. But even before the COVID-19 pandemic, shipping freight has always been a venture full of risk. The potential disasters and mishaps include theft, hurricanes, train derailments, truck collisions and containers jettisoned or lost at sea as well as corruption and political unrest in foreign nations.
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Fledgling screening trials could pave the way for new standard procedures…
Matt Falcus Transportation Technology & AutomotiveThe U.K.'s Heathrow Airport is trialing new measures for screening passengers as the aviation industry looks for a way to emerge from the current crisis. With no definitive end to the risk posed by the coronavirus pandemic, the measures taken could become the new norm for travel by air. First to be implemented at Heathrow is facial recognition thermal screening technology, which monitors passengers moving through Terminal 2's immigration halls. This will then be scaled up to other areas such as departure areas and security screening, followed by other terminals.
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Travel destination offices forced to wait out the waves of COVID-19
Lark Gould Travel, Hospitality & Event ManagementDestination marketing offices, often at the core of profitable tourism endeavors in the U.S., are moving slowly, stunned deer in the headlights against a powerful pandemic. To that end, MMGY Travel Intelligence teamed up with the Destinations International Foundation to create a benchmark series of biweekly surveys of North American destination professionals for a nuts and bolts way of taking the pulse of the travel industry through the COVID-19 crisis.
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IATA: Airline companies could turn into ghosts
Lark Gould Travel, Hospitality & Event ManagementNew forecasts from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) are painting a bleak picture for airline recovery. According to the IATA's recent updated analysis, which profiled damage wrought by the COVID-19 crisis on the global airline industry, airline passenger revenues are projected to drop by $314 billion in 2020, a 55% drop over 2019. Previously, in March, IATA estimated $252 billion in lost revenues (-44% vs. 2019) in a scenario with severe travel restrictions lasting three months.
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Airports are using the COVID-19 lockdown to undertake essential works
Matt Falcus Transportation Technology & AutomotiveOne of the most difficult projects for busy airports to manage is refurbishing or rehabilitating infrastructure such as a runway when it is still required for aircraft use. Yet, with the global lockdown, airports are finding an opportunity to undertake these works with little disruption to operations. Press releases and local news reports from across the world tell of the work airports are undertaking to improve and repair runways and taxiways. In many cases, planned works have been brought forward to take advantage of the current situation and lack of traffic.
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