The Persistent Pilot Squeeze and 9 Other Top Travel Stories This Week

Throughout the week we are posting original stories night and day covering news and travel trends, including on the impact of coronavirus. Every weekend we will offer you a chance to read the most essential stories again in case you missed them earlier.

Airlines Will Still Face Pilot Shortage Problem Even After Pandemic Downsizings: Pandemic job cuts won’t solve the industry’s longstanding issue of needing a new generation of pilots to replace those retiring. Now is the time for the airlines to do the right thing — open the field to a more diverse and inclusive pool of talent as they recover from the pandemic.

Loyalty Goes Both Ways in a Pandemic When Airlines Exit Markets: Many global airlines have reduced long-haul flights or exited markets altogether due to the pandemic, but more often than not their loyalty points have an expiration date. Now is a really good time for airlines to put customers first and adjust their valuable currency — or risk losing their loyalty.

The Asia City That Could Emerge Strongest From the Pandemic: The new flare-up of Covid-19 cases in northern Vietnam does not change the fact the country has a lot going for it and that its commercial capital in the south, Ho Chi Minh City, is a rising star in Asia.

The Top-Down Diversity Push That U.S. Tourism Desperately Needs Is Here: The first full-time, diversity-focused organization for U.S. travel launched this week as destination marketers, trade groups and publicists are also collaborating on solutions to equity, diversity and inclusion barriers in tourism. It’s long and shamefully overdue — but promising, since change begins from the C-suites down.

TUI Musement Emerges as a Tours and Activities Player in Europe in Shadow of GetYourGuide: Will it suffice for TUI Musement to focus on the partnership side of its business, as it does with Booking.com and major cruise lines, or does it need to master the uphill task of becoming a breakout consumer brand beyond TUI’s existing customer base? Acquisitions could be part of the mix when the pandemic dust settles.

6 French Travel Startups Thriving Despite the Pandemic: Travel bookings will get worse before they get better. But we found a half dozen French travel startups defying the odds. They appear to be setting themselves up well for the post-crisis rebound. Bonne chance!

Hotels Hope Profits Are Cooking in the Ghost Kitchen Business: The pandemic has produced unlikely partnerships between the hotel and office sectors, but the longevity is up for debate. The ghost kitchen pairing between hotels and an outside food operator may actually stick for years to come, as it solves a pre-pandemic revenue loss problem.

Marriott CEO Sorenson to Reduce Work Schedule to Undergo Further Cancer Treatment: Arne Sorenson is a fighter, and Marriott has a strong team in place while he continues to battle cancer.

Travel Megatrends 2025: Work From Anywhere Spurs a New Type of Business Travel: By 2025, it turned out employees were happy to give up the office, but they wholeheartedly fought to keep some kind of physical interaction with coworkers.

How These 2 Decisions Made a World Apart Could Define the Future of Airlines: Qantas is beefing up its domestic network with a new deal with regional carrier Alliance Airlines. The move allows Qantas to provide more frequencies on domestic routes to capitalize on Australians choosing to vacation in the country.