What Is Happening To The Airline Industry?

News notes from around the interweb:

  • What is happening to the airline industry? nothing new for regular readers of this blog.

    Guidelines aren’t likely to be eased in a uniform fashion. Some places may have fewer restrictions than others. Many countries will still have restrictions or quarantines on arriving passengers. Travel isn’t going to come back all at once, like turning a switch back on.

    …[A]s travel gradually returns that there will be a lot of empty seats, even with initially far fewer flights than we have come to expect. I do not expect the airline industry to fully recover this year.

  • Sheraton Tysons Corner will close permanently on Friday

  • Amex Platinum Lufthansa lounge benefit extended

  • Modeling loyalty program breakage during COVID-19

  • Delta and LATAM have launched reciprocal mileage earning and redemption remember when Delta stealing the LATAM relationship away from American seemed like a big deal?

  • The Intercontinental Kowloon – right on the water, in front of the Peninsula, one of the more incredible spots for a hotel – will close in May and not re-open until sometime in 2022, when it will reflag as a Regent hotel (which is also part of IHG). Employees will receive four months of severance. (HT: René S)

  • Hyundai Development Company is on track to acquire Star Alliance airline Asiana despite the current unpleasantness (and Asiana was troubled to begin with).

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. Interesting that the Hong Kong InterContinental is returning to the Regent brand, under which it opened in 1980. The ‘bones’ of the building are decent, and its location is excellent, so with a thorough refurbishment I suspect it will become the hotel to beat. I’ve always found the service there exemplary, and much prefer its lower-rise vistas to those offered by the Four Seasons or Ritz Carlton.

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