By Thomas Wright

Few leaders seem concerned about what we might lose by being cut off from one another.

If you’ve traveled internationally this summer and have had to navigate a labyrinth of COVID-19 tests, quarantines, health-authorization forms, and scarce flights to get there, you are one of the lucky ones. Many people have been unable to travel at all.

Few would argue that governments ought to fully reopen travel now, especially with the threat of the Delta variant. But the haphazard, unilateral way that countries have designed, imposed, and upheld travel restrictions—often because they are an easier option than taking action at home to stop the virus—should concern everyone. COVID-19 may never really go away, and large parts of the world could remain unvaccinated for years. Leaders must recognize the danger inherent in unending COVID-19 travel restrictions and put in place a process to eventually lift them completely. Right now, though, few seem concerned about what we might lose by being cut off from one another.

Current limitations are a patchwork effort with seemingly little science or reason behind them. The Biden administration has banned Europeans from visiting, even though the European Union and the United Kingdom have a higher vaccination rate than the United States. Most Europeans living in the U.S. on non-immigrant visas (basically anything except for a green card) can leave the country for Europe, but they can’t return unless they spend two weeks in a country not banned, even if that country has a much higher rate of infection. The Biden administration hasn’t defended the particulars of the ban—why Germany, but not Turkey? —but it recently confirmed that the limitations would stay in place.

The EU has reopened travel between its member states and has lifted restrictions on 23 countries. However, travel between the U.K. and the EU is still limited and changes constantly—either because London adds a new country to its amber or red list or because an EU country bans the British. Clément Beaune, the French minister of state for European affairs, recently called the U.K. restrictions on his country “discriminatory,” “excessive,” and “incomprehensible.” Australians are not allowed to leave their own country, and if a vaccinated Australian abroad wants to go home, the person must quarantine for two weeks in a government-run hotel typically at their own expense—assuming one of the limited slots is available. Meanwhile, China and a number of other Asian nations are closed to most foreigners.

I’ve talked with several officials in the U.S., Europe, and Asia to try to understand the logic behind the policies and where they are headed. These conversations took place under the condition of anonymity so they could talk freely. Three points stood out.

First, officials are genuinely fearful of variants, including Delta, especially with vaccination numbers worldwide still relatively low. Half of the U.S. is not fully vaccinated, for example, and in Asia, the number is higher. Loosening travel restrictions now might only make the virus numbers worse.

Second, the political cost of the restrictions is negligible. Maintaining or tightening travel restrictions is much easier than imposing a mask mandate, requiring vaccine passports, or instituting another shutdown. The lobby in favor of open international travel—the tourism industry, expats, and those who travel frequently—is relatively small. Therefore, many governments, including the U.S.’s, just don’t seem to care much about what they see as a marginal issue.

Finally, the officials know that the restrictions are full of holes and inconsistencies, but keeping them in place is easier than reforming them. Barriers of any kind help to discourage travel, which is the message governments want to send.

No one believes the restrictions will remain indefinitely, but no timetable or process exists for deciding when they will end. Almost no international coordination on the issue has occurred. The topic was not featured at the G7, G20, or U.S.-EU summits. Besides German Chancellor Angela Merkel raising it with Joe Biden in July, the issue has barely come up in one-on-one leader discussions.

The world has a pandemic to fight, so why is scrutinizing these travel restrictions important now?

Legal free movement of people is a core pillar of the post–Cold War international order. It has given millions of students the chance to study abroad. It has resulted in marriages and families. It promotes mutual understanding. It creates jobs and sparks innovation. Throwing up barriers that discourage travel will reduce these connections. It is an act of decoupling—not just from rivals but from friends and allies.

In the short term, we risk sleepwalking into a world divided between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated—a “safe” zone and “safe” people and an “unsafe” world and “unsafe” people. This division, justified on public-health grounds, could cut along geographic, ethnic, and socioeconomic lines, introducing a new fault line into an already fractured world, turbocharging global inequality.

Without a plan to ultimately unwind these travel rules, I fear that restrictions that appear limited now could easily be tightened later if more nativist politicians are elected. After four years of Donald Trump and other populist movements, the previously unacceptable has become easier to accept.

Also, governments may find additional reasons to maintain some of the restrictions. The U.S. and China, for instance, may see a national-security benefit in limiting travel between their two countries. Already, American and Chinese foreign-policy experts find it difficult to obtain visas to visit each other’s countries, and in the case of China, authorities have arbitrarily detained Western experts.

Leaders of the world’s democracies must affirm a shared commitment to restoring travel to the way it was in 2019 and to properly coordinate restrictions so that they are truly based on science and not on a whim. The G20 Rome summit in October would be a good place to do this. As long as variants continue to pose a risk, world leaders should also push for a sustainable and rapid testing infrastructure linked to airports and border crossings worldwide.

The potential ramifications of a less travel-friendly world are yet another reason the world’s democracies need to vaccinate everyone, as a matter of urgency. The 870 million vaccines pledged at the G7 are not nearly enough. The leader of the World Health Organization estimates the global need at 11 billion doses. Former U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown called the G7 pledge an “unforgivable moral lapse when every three months COVID-19 is destroying 1 million lives.”

No one would claim that the freedom to travel is the most important right to preserve at the height of a pandemic. But if we convince ourselves that excluding the “unsafe” is easier than defeating the virus, we won’t just be reducing frivolous trips in the short term. We will be fundamentally altering our world for the worse.

Source: The Atlantic

Kenya has developed a comprehensive strategy to promote the untapped incentive tourism niche and hasten the sector’s revival after a slump occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, officials said.

Muriuki Mureithi, a senior officer at Kenya National Convention Bureau (KNCB), said the government will tap into local and overseas incentive travelers to boost tourism sector recovery, create jobs and generate revenue to the exchequer.

“We have positioned the country as a safe destination for incentive travel and are confident of its potential to revive the tourism sector that is gradually emerging from pandemic downturn,” said Mureithi in the coastal city of Mombasa during the arrival of a chartered flight from Romania carrying 53 incentive travelers who are slated to visit different scenic attractions in Kenya.

Mureithi said the Romanian tourists who are on a week-long vacation in Kenya will help promote the country as a safe destination after easing of COVID-19 restrictions.

He said Kenya has developed a conducive environment to spur growth of incentive tourism and compete favorably with established markets in Africa including Morocco and Seychelles. And the government will leverage meetings, incentive travel, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) to boost recovery of the tourism sector that contributes about 10 percent to the country’s gross domestic product.

Anghel Cristian-Daniel, general manager of Map Travel that facilitated the arrival of 53 incentive travelers from Romania, said that Kenya remains an attractive destination for overseas tourists amid favorable weather and security.

He said there will be weekly chartered flights from Romania to Kenya with easing of travel restrictions combined with enhanced COVID-19 containment measures.

Jeff Mukolwe, general manager of Swahili Beach Hotel, said the ongoing vaccine rollout in the country has injected confidence in foreign tourists keen to sample beach destinations.

He said the 53 Romanian tourists were the first batch of incentive travelers to visit Kenya since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, adding that the country’s declining COVID-19 caseload was having a positive outcome on the tourism sector.

Kenya’s Ministry of Health Mercy Mwangangi said Tuesday it launched a strategic plan to help prevent and control non-communicable diseases.

Source: Xinhua

Kenya has developed a comprehensive strategy to promote the untapped incentive tourism niche and hasten the sector’s revival after a slump occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, officials said.

Muriuki Mureithi, a senior officer at Kenya National Convention Bureau (KNCB), said the government will tap into local and overseas incentive travelers to boost tourism sector recovery, create jobs and generate revenue to the exchequer.

“We have positioned the country as a safe destination for incentive travel and are confident of its potential to revive the tourism sector that is gradually emerging from pandemic downturn,” said Mureithi in the coastal city of Mombasa during the arrival of a chartered flight from Romania carrying 53 incentive travelers who are slated to visit different scenic attractions in Kenya.

Mureithi said the Romanian tourists who are on a week-long vacation in Kenya will help promote the country as a safe destination after easing of COVID-19 restrictions.

He said Kenya has developed a conducive environment to spur growth of incentive tourism and compete favorably with established markets in Africa including Morocco and Seychelles. And the government will leverage meetings, incentive travel, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) to boost recovery of the tourism sector that contributes about 10 percent to the country’s gross domestic product.

Anghel Cristian-Daniel, general manager of Map Travel that facilitated the arrival of 53 incentive travelers from Romania, said that Kenya remains an attractive destination for overseas tourists amid favorable weather and security.

He said there will be weekly chartered flights from Romania to Kenya with easing of travel restrictions combined with enhanced COVID-19 containment measures.

Jeff Mukolwe, general manager of Swahili Beach Hotel, said the ongoing vaccine rollout in the country has injected confidence in foreign tourists keen to sample beach destinations.

He said the 53 Romanian tourists were the first batch of incentive travelers to visit Kenya since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, adding that the country’s declining COVID-19 caseload was having a positive outcome on the tourism sector.

Kenya’s Ministry of Health Mercy Mwangangi said Tuesday it launched a strategic plan to help prevent and control non-communicable diseases.

Source: Xinhua

Africa was set to become one of the fastest growing regions for aviation over the next two decades. Then the pandemic hit, slashing global passenger traffic by 66% in 2020, and stalling the pace of growth in Africa.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA), which represents 290 airlines and roughly 82% of total air traffic, is putting measures in place to help the travel industry recover from the pandemic on the continent and beyond.

CNN Business spoke with Kamil Al-Awadhi, IATA’s Vice President for Africa and the Middle East, about the future of African aviation. The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

What’s the current state of the aviation industry in Africa?

Kamil Al-Awadhi: Before I get into Africa — in general, the aviation industry is in tatters. It’s no failure from the aviation industry itself, it’s more man-made by governments and authorities locking down for a year and half after Covid-19. This has killed an industry that is dependent on a five to 10-year plan.

It’s a global issue, with governments and borders being shut every time there’s a new variant, and there’s no collaboration — if one country opens up, there’s no point because you need the reciprocal country to accept travel.

In Africa, this is even worse. There seems to be a complete disconnect between states on agreeing how to do things, there’s little support from governments to the aviation industry, and the excessive costs of PCR [Covid-19] testing makes travel unbearable.

Have you seen a boost in demand for air cargo?

Al-Adwahi: When commercial flights [stopped running during the pandemic] everybody tried to flip over to cargo and there was a sudden increase in demand for it. Thankfully, cargo is probably the trickle of revenue that’s kept aviation alive this long.

When governments needed urgent vaccines to be delivered, or when hospitals were running out of essential medical supplies, they turned to the airlines for cargo support, and airlines complied immediately and supported the governments in this. But when it came to getting financial support or relief from governments, very few airlines got it.

Cargo has been very positive in Africa. It has supported the aviation industry and kept jobs going, whether it’s in the airport, the ground handling agents and so on.

Pre-pandemic, Africa was set to be one of the fastest-growing aviation regions in the next 20 years, according to IATA. Do you think it can regain this position?

Al-Adwahi: It’s about getting all the relative stakeholders to sit at a table and understand the importance of alignment. Once we get past that hurdle, I think you will see a boom that will make history in Africa.

Central to this is having a “Single African Air Transport Market” (SAATM). Instead of having each country working in separate silos, we’re going to get all the countries in Africa to work under one umbrella, one set of rules, one market. Once you do that, the barriers get dropped.

If you look at Europe’s domestic market, aviation is picking up beautifully. If you look at the US, it’s hitting pre-Covid numbers. China is the same. If we can convert Africa to a domestic market, then we would have the exact same condition. We recently submitted the final document to SAATM, which has guidelines for how it should work — 35 countries have already signed up to it, which is very positive.

How can we get travel up and running again, with the restrictions currently in place?

Al-Awadhi: The lack of scientific background in this decision-making process is causing mayhem in aviation. Vaccines shouldn’t be the only precondition for travel. PCR testing at departure is I think essential, but PCR costs should be controlled. In some countries in Africa it costs up to $500 per PCR test, so if a family of four want to travel, it will cost $2,000 just to leave the country, and probably the same to get back.

Increased paperwork is slowing down airport transits. In some airports that were handling 100% traffic in 2019, it would take 45 minutes from A to Z. Now it’s taking three to four hours, with only 30% of traffic. We estimate that as traffic goes back to 2019 levels, there could be a six-hour delay for the passenger to check in because of all the credentials they have to carry. The IATA has created a digital travel pass to facilitate this.

I’d love to see governments rethinking their position on supporting the aviation industry, specifically the airlines that are desperately needed to support the country’s infrastructure, jobs and GDP.

Are you optimistic about recovery within Africa’s aviation industry?

Al-Awadhi: Generally, I’m very optimistic. Governments are getting more savvy about coronavirus and how to handle it, and they are feeling the pinch now economically. I think the last quarter of this year will see a boom — as long as “variant Echo” or “variant Foxtrot” doesn’t come up and everybody panics.

Source: CNN Business

In addition to revising its mask guidance on Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also quietly updated its testing recommendations for people who are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.

The agency now advises that vaccinated people be tested for the virus if they come into contact with someone with Covid-19, even if they have no symptoms. Previously, the health agency had said that fully vaccinated people did not need to be tested after exposure to the virus unless they were experiencing symptoms.

“Our updated guidance recommends vaccinated people get tested upon exposure regardless of symptoms,” Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the agency’s director, said in an email to The New York Times. “Testing is widely available.”

Fully vaccinated people should wear a mask in public indoor spaces after exposure, the agency said. Three to five days later, they should be tested for the virus.

If the results come back negative, they can stop wearing masks indoors. If results are positive, the infected should isolate at home for 10 days.

Although people who are fully vaccinated may still get infected with the virus, these breakthrough infections tend to be mild or asymptomatic. The vaccines authorized in the United States provide strong protection against the worst outcomes, including severe disease, hospitalization and death, including from the Delta variant.

The new testing recommendation came on the same day that the agency recommended that fully vaccinated people return to wearing masks indoors under some circumstances. When levels of community transmission are high, everyone, regardless of vaccination status, should wear masks indoors when they are in public, the agency now says.

The agency also recommended that vaccinated people in close contact with unvaccinated people, including children under age 12, consider wearing masks in public indoor spaces whatever the transmission rates in the local community. In a shift, the agency also recommended universal masking in schools.

For months, the C.D.C. had resisted recommending masks for vaccinated people, even as the highly contagious Delta variant spread and the World Health Organization recommended continued mask wearing.

The change was prompted by new data suggesting that even vaccinated people who are infected by Delta may carry large amounts of the virus and transmit it to others, Dr. Walensky said at a news briefing on Tuesday.

Source: The New York Times

Kenya is grappling with the COVID-19 Delta variant, which recently resulted in the western part of the country being put into lockdown. It now threatens the capital, Nairobi.

A modelling forecast from the Kenya Medical Research Institute in June 2021 warned of an imminent fourth wave with attendant risks of health service demand exceeding capacity. The Delta variant is much more transmissible than its predecessors, such as the Alpha variant, but it does not appear to cause more severe disease.

The modelling study is a welcome alert to the dangers of the Delta variant. Its findings should be used to inform preparedness by both public and private sectors. In other parts of the world, the variant has spread fast including in those who are partially immunised, overwhelming health services.

The big concern is how Kenya will fare this time around.

The Kenyan government reacted quickly to the previous three waves. But the public has felt some pandemic fatigue. And the economy and social life in general have been negatively affected.

Two doses of the main vaccines provide good protection against hospitalisation and severe disease. The country’s rollout so far has been limited to COVAX supplies and donations, and a concerted effort to procure more using local and donor funding is necessary.

Kenya’s strengths – and the gaps

As of July 29, there were 199,941 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 3,895 deaths in the country. A partial explanation for the low fatality number is Kenya’s younger population with fewer co-morbidities and less obesity. But there may be other explanations too. It is likely that there is already a high percentage of the population that has been exposed to COVID-19 from earlier waves and so will have some immunity against it.

The government has done some things well. There was, and continues to be, prompt national action with a national emergency response committee, coherent mitigation messaging, daily briefings by the Ministry of Health on case numbers, positivity rates and hospital utilisation, and dedicated treatment facilities.

The health system as a whole has shown resilience after an initial decline when the pandemic started, with most healthcare services, like maternity care, now back to normal or near normal. In addition, coordination of testing across the country has been instituted and includes genomic testing.

Because of the limited supplies of available vaccines, only about 2% of the population has been vaccinated. So far, the Astra Zeneca has been the only available vaccine but others including the Johnson and Johnson and Pfizer are expected in August. There are ambitious plans to cover the whole adult population by 2022 using donated  and locally procured vaccines.

There are, however, areas where more action is needed, particularly in the face of a potential fourth wave.

The main gaps are in the capacity of the health system. Oxygen provision is low especially in the public sector. In addition, there are too few intensive care unit beds.

And then there’s the need to ramp up vaccination efforts. Vaccine procurement is limited to the government. In addition, administration is being done by the government distributing – from their limited supplies – to public and selected private facilities. As vaccine supplies increase globally, allowing non-public sector provision would help raise coverage.

Adherence to mitigation measures such as mask wearing and social distancing is limited. Myths about COVID-19 abound, and there is deep scepticism about the threat the virus poses.

Effective responses are also being hampered by vaccine hesitancy and government corruption scandals.

What needs to be done

The new Delta variant is a serious threat because it is much more easily transmitted. Prompt government action is necessary to put prevention measures in place and enforce them.

A major effort is needed to help hospitals test and report results quickly for optimal patient care, particularly in the public sector. The government took a decision early in the pandemic to limit antibody testing to research studies. This constrains both clinical care and surveillance of the prevalence of COVID-19 in the population which would otherwise give more insight into the nature of the pandemic in Kenya and population exposure.

More testing and contact tracing should be in place.

There also needs to be better coordination of bed availability across counties and the country.

The potential for larger gatherings to be super-spreaders is a clear concern. The government should bring people and policymakers together, working with communities to reduce complacency, improve education and awareness and to enforce adherence to mitigation measures.

The vaccination programme needs to be expanded and expedited. Using local knowledge and networks is essential to prepare people and health services for a rapid vaccination scale-up.

In terms of treatment and care, the single most important aspect is oxygen. It is vital to be able to give higher levels of oxygen such as with a high flow nasal canula. These are available in some private facilities but in very short supply in the public facilities.

In the previous surge in March 2021, few of the public hospitals had sufficient oxygen and even private hospitals were running out of supplies. While many of the public hospitals had facilities for generating oxygen, some were not working. This is all exacerbated by delays and high costs for medical equipment and repair parts, often costing double the amounts paid in Europe or North America.

And, finally, Kenyans themselves have a responsibility to take precautions and get vaccinated. They should avoid large gatherings, such as political rallies.

Source: The Conversation

The US remains closed to tourists from the EU and the UK – a situation that has prompted frustration and urgent calls for the reopening of international travel to vaccinated individuals by industry and countries.

The UK and EU states have both slammed the decision of the administration of US president Joe Biden to extend travel restrictions, calling instead for reciprocity.

Europeans are currently banned from entering the US, while Americans can visit Europe just with proof of vaccination or a negative test. British citizens are also forbidden from entering the country, while fully vaccinated US travellers will be allowed into Britain without the need to quarantine from next Monday (2 August).

The White House said earlier this week that the extension of travel restrictions was due to concerns over the more-transmissible Delta variant.

Germany’s coordinator for transatlantic affairs, Peter Beyer, has urged Biden’s administration to reconsider the entry ban for Europeans, arguing that such measures are hampering German businesses.

“Industry above all is waiting desperately for a loosening,” he said in an interview published on Wednesday (28 July). “We’re not talking peanuts here”.

“We urgently need fact-based reciprocity in the entry rules between the US and the Schengen area,” he added, referring to the border-free region that encompasses most EU countries.

After the UK announced on Wednesday the loosening of travel restrictions on US and EU tourists, British transport minister Grant Shapps said that he expected a similar move from the US in due time.

“We can only set the rules at our end,” he said.

“We cannot change that on the other side, but we do expect that in time they will release that executive order, which was actually signed by the previous president and bans inward travel,” Shapps added, according to the AP.

Earlier this week, the European Commission said that they are in talks with its US counterparts, arguing that “there is a strong case for the US to reopen to travellers from Europe”.

Meanwhile, industry players have called for the resumption of transatlantic travelling, arguing that closing borders have not prevented the Delta variant from spreading across the US.

“Given the high rates of vaccination on both sides of the Atlantic, it is possible to begin safely welcoming back vaccinated visitors,” said Tori Emerson Barnes from the US travel association in a statement.

“We respectfully urge the Biden administration to revisit its decision in the very near term and begin reopening international travel to vaccinated individuals, starting with air corridors between the US and nations with similar vaccination rates,” they added.

Source: EU Observer

With certain destinations reopening for travel it may seem as though things are heading back to normal, but it is far from true. The United States for example has announced that the country will continue its international travel restrictions for now as the delta variant becomes a cause for concern. The authorities in America are currently concerned regarding the surge in this deadly variant coupled with the opposition to vaccination.

Earlier, President Joe Biden had said that the administration is in process of deciding as to how soon the country can lift the ban. This is mainly in regards to the ban on European inbound travel, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel had raised the issue during her visit to the White House. Now that the authorities have cleared the air, it remains to be seen whether the delta variant goes away anytime soon.

Jen Psaki, Press Secretary, White House, said that driven by the delta variant, the cases in America are rising. This is particularly true for the unvaccinated people. She said that this trend is very likely to continue for the coming days. Authorities are also taking a look at its policies on mask wearing.

Already, the Department of Veterans Affairs has made it mandatory for its health care workers to get vaccinated. This is the first major federal agency to do so.

The delta variant is now a major concern in countries across the world, and US health officials are thinking of changing its policies on wearing masks in order to curb the spread. The variant was first detected in India where it caused numerous deaths, crippling the health care system of the country. There is now a 32 percent increase in hospitalisation in the US from the previous week.

Source: Times Travel

Global airline passenger demand performance for June 2021 showed a slight improvement in both international and domestic air travel markets. However, overall demand remains significantly below pre-Covid-19 levels owing to untiring international travel restrictions.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) this week announced that African airlines’ traffic fell 68.2% in June versus the same month two years ago, an improvement from the 71.5% decline in May compared to May 2019. June capacity however contracted 60.0% versus June 2019 as the load factor declined 14.5 percentage points to 56.5%.

Meanwhile, total demand for air travel in June 2021 (measured in revenue passenger kilometres or RPKs) was down 60.1% compared to June 2019. This was a small improvement over the 62.9% decline recorded in May 2021 versus May 2019. IATA pointed out that comparisons between 2021 and 2020 monthly results are distorted by the extraordinary impact of the global pandemic.

Moreover, international passenger demand in June was 80.9% below June 2019, an improvement from the 85.4% decline recorded in May 2021 versus two years ago.

Total domestic demand was down 22.4% versus pre-crisis levels (June 2019), a slight gain over the 23.7% decline recorded in May 2021 versus the 2019 period.

“We are seeing movement in the right direction, particularly in some key domestic markets. But the situation for international travel is nowhere near where we need to be. June should be the start of peak season, but airlines were carrying just 20% of 2019 levels. That’s not a recovery, it’s a continuing crisis caused by government inaction,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.

In terms of cargo, African airlines’ international demand for June increased 33.5% compared to the same month in 2019, which was the strongest performance of all global regions. The increase was however notable on small volumes as African carriers carry 2% of global cargo). Overall international cargo capacity in June decreased by 4.9% compared to the same month in 2019.

“Air cargo is doing brisk business as the global economy continues its recovery from the Covid-19 crisis. With first-half demand 8% above pre-crisis levels, air cargo is a revenue lifeline for many airlines as they struggle with border closures that continue to devastate the international passenger business. Importantly, the strong first-half performance looks set to continue,” said Walsh.

Source: IATA

Amadeus reported another quarterly loss as higher-priced international air traffic hasn’t recovered as quickly as domestic air traffic in the pandemic rebound. But executives at the Madrid-based travel technology firm struck an optimistic note when they reported earnings on Friday. June was the company’s best-performing month since the onset of the pandemic.

Given that Amadeus is the world’s biggest provider of booking services to travel agencies and a provider of other travel software solutions, it can serve as something of a proxy for how well the global travel sector is coping with the pandemic.

Amadeus saw monthly air booking growth rates throughout the first six months of the year compared with 2019 pre-pandemic levels gradually improve each month. In June, Amadeus saw bookings had declined 58.7 percent compared to 2019 levels, which was an improvement over the levels of decline in previous months.

North America has unsurprisingly been the best performing geography, followed by Central Europe, which includes Russia.

During the second quarter, the company reported an adjusted loss for the second quarter of about $28 million (€23.6 million) on approximately $742.6 million (€624.4 million) in revenue. The company’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization on continuing operations were about $172 million (€145 million).

Amadeus’s biggest revenue generator is its distribution service for airlines and agencies. In the second quarter, distribution revenue amounted to approximately $318 million (€267.6 million), a 66 percent contraction relative to the pre-pandemic second quarter of 2019. That represented a notable improvement over the revenue performance delivered in the first three months of the year.

Amadeus’ earnings are strongly tied to the number of reservations it handles, as the company essentially charges a commission for every reservation made on its platforms. About a fifth of its revenue comes from its IT hospitality business and non-air bookings.

Amadeus’s revenue fell partly because the booking volumes it processed in the second quarter were only 67.6 percent of the level of the comparable period in 2019. Yet another factor was that distribution revenue per booking diluted slightly compared with 2019 levels partly because of the higher weight of local bookings, driven by the faster recovery in domestic air traffic than in international air traffic. Short-haul domestic trips don’t generate as high a fee for the company as sales of international plane tickets do.

Amadeus addressed analyst questions about the company’s ongoing efforts to adopt NDC (New Distribution Capability), which has come to represent a set of more modern ways of selling airfares. The company said it had made moderate progress on NDC, but industry adoption will take years. It cited agreements signed with United Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, LOT Polish Airlines, and Kenya Airways. It also signed during the quarter deals to offer NDC content to travel agencies including Tiket.com in South East Asia and Seera Group and Sharaf Travel in the Middle East.

“With time, we will not be talking about NDC any longer,” said Luis Maroto, president and CEO. “There will be new technology to help you merchandise your products.”

Source: Skift