A new breed of airline and travel industry adverts are emerging. Whilst they may not have much money to burn, I would guess these use old footage and are pretty cheap to produce. If the companies have paid for advertising and they need to run something still, why not make it appropriate?
So far there is Emirates which I love as it is so hopeful:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRoAQ3dmOUw
ENAV – Air Traffic Control in Italy
IATA
And TAP Air Portugal
An unofficial one from a Lisbon airport worker
And finally a more hopeful one from IATA
If you spot any others let us know in the comments below or on social media.
Time to book an Intercontinental or IHG hotel?
Now is actually a good time to be booking hotels for the future as rates can be fantastic value, and there are plenty of offers which don’t require upfront payment or are cancellable. In a few days, I will have a comb through the various hotel chains and look at luxury bargains for late 2020 onwards and report back.
IHG has announced that they have removed their more restrictive (pre-paid/non-refundable) Advance Purchase rate from sale until later in the year (excluding Greater China). The current rates available are now:
- Book Now, Pay Later: This new rate offers flexibility and savings. With no deposit required and cancellations possible up to 24 hours before your stay for direct bookings, travel planning is commitment-free. Guests benefit from 5% or more off our Best Flexible Rate for bookings made up to 3 September 2020 for stays until 30 December 2020 (excluding Greater China).
- Best Flexible Rate: This rate offers maximum flexibility to change or cancel your reservation. For direct bookings, this rate can be fully changeable or refundable up to 6 pm (local hotel time) on the day of arrival (dependent on the hotels’ individual house policy).
- IHG Rewards Club Members Rates: Additional savings are available for IHG Rewards Club members on these Book Now, Pay Later and Best Flexible rates. (free to join)
- IHG Rewards Club nights: You can change or cancel these bookings with no penalty prior to the time period set by the hotel.
You can book for IHG such as Crowne Plaza, Kimpton and Intercontinental hotels direct here.
Singapore Changi airport to close Terminal 2 for 18 months!
Changi Airport Group announced on Monday that terminal operations at Changi Airport will be consolidated. Their rationale was that after the steep decline in passenger traffic, the likelihood is that air travel demand will not return to pre-COVID-19 levels in the near term, This move will enable CAG to save on running costs such as utilities and cleaning as well as to optimise resources across the airport’s terminals.
From 1 May 2020, operations at Terminal 2 (T2) will be suspended for 18 months with airlines to be relocated to the remaining terminals. This suspension of operations will allow for the current T2 expansion to be accelerated with expected completion, currently scheduled for 2024, brought forward possibly by up to one year. It has not been announced where they will move to. Airlines presently using Terminal 2 are SilkAir, Scoot, Tigerair, Malaysia Airlines and Etihad Airways.
In a rather strange move, they have decided to keep terminal 4, their newest terminal open for the moment. They only have a small number of flights that leave from there, and it has been pretty much deserted when I flew through there last year on Cathay Pacific. Given that it is also a pain for transferring as you need a bus ride, it seems very odd to keep it open. Operations at the terminal have been scaled down considerably with a small number of aircraft boarding gates kept in use and shops allowed to close early after the last flight for the day. If the remaining airlines at T4 choose to suspend or adjust their flight schedule, CAG will also consider suspending operations at T4 temporarily but with the objective of restarting services quickly when airlines confirm the resumption of flights.
