The Biggest Challenge to Airlines’ Recovery in 2021

Denver International Airport  / Denver International Airport

Airlines are eager for travelers to return in 2021. Denver International Airport / Denver International Airport

Skift Take: Airlines face a myriad of challenges in 2021. But above them all is the question: when will travelers return in significant numbers? Once flyers do, the industry can exit crisis mode and look forward again.

— Edward Russell

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American Airlines Completes First U.S. 737 Max Flight After 20-Month Safety Ban

American Airlines

An American Airlines Boeing 737 Max jet in an earlier photo. American Airlines

Skift Take: A huge media spectacle on Tuesday for the return of the Boeing 737 Max to U.S. skies, which the manufacturer and the airline industry hope goes a long way to reassuring the public that the jet is safe to fly.

— Tom Lowry

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Ryanair to Restrict Rights of British Shareholders in Post-Brexit Move

Ralph Orlowski  / Reuters

A Ryanair aircraft stands on the tarmac at Frankfurt-Hahn Airport Germany. The airline is restricting the rights of its British shareholders post-Brexit. Ralph Orlowski / Reuters

Skift Take: The Irish airline wants to ensure nobody mistakes that it is European Union majority-owned. The Brexit blowback begins as UK shareholders get neutered.

— Tom Lowry

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Lessons From Africa’s Safari Lodges for a Post-Pandemic Era

Bisate Lodge

Bisate Lodge in Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda, the elimination of plastic in innovative ways is a priority: first, the table stakes: the lodge uses a water filtration system and does not serve any plastic bottled water to guests or staff. Bisate Lodge

Skift Take: Many innovations have been born from constraints. In the case of safari lodges in Africa, the remote settings and lack of infrastructure forces architects and teams to get creative. Here are examples from the bleeding edge of innovation in sustainability, along with some hints about what is to come in developed markets around the world.

— Colin Nagy

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Pent-Up Travel Resolutions for 2021: Top Picks From the Skift Staff

Delyth Angharad  / Flickr

Sunset at a pier on False Bay in South Africa, a location where a Skift colleague dreams of traveling to in 2021. Delyth Angharad / Flickr

Skift Take: After nearly a year in lockdown, the Skift team has had some time to dream about traveling again. Some 2021 goals are big, some more modest, but when it’s safe to go, all those experiences will make us appreciate even more what we have all missed.

— Tom Lowry

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The Biggest Challenge to Tourism’s Recovery in 2021

Marcos  / Adobe

Proper practices by tourists, like these in Mexico City, will be crucial to tourism’s global recovery in 2021. Marcos / Adobe

Skift Take: On the eve of a new year, albeit with vaccines on the distant horizon for most of the world, Covid’s curve is nowhere near flattened around the globe. What lies ahead for the industry is clear: pushing for tourism’s restart while curbing flare-ups and stop-and-start scenarios.

— Lebawit Lily Girma

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U.S. to Require Negative Covid Tests for Inbound Airline Passengers From the UK

mark bartlett  / Flickr

Departing flight from Heathrow Airport. Those flights headed to the U.S. will now require passengers to have had negative tests for Covid.
mark bartlett / Flickr

Skift Take: Voluntary measures by airlines were just made mandatory by the U.S. government starting Monday. Smart move, since there are so many unknown variables about this new strain of coronavirus.

— Tom Lowry

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