On the Fly Travel Update: PHL/LHR & The World
On Wednesday, September 22, 2021 the BABCPHL hosted a global travel update. Keynote speakers, Chellie Cameron, CEO, Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) and John Holland-Kaye, CEO London Heathrow (LHR) headlined the meeting, featuring a panel of experts from the travel, airline, and legal sectors, including: Emanuel Adam, Chief Policy & Trade Officer, BritishAmerican Business; Lakshman Amaranayaka, Vice President PHL, American Airlines; Neil Chernoff, Senior Vice President of Networks & Alliances, British Airways; Eric Evjen, Director, Data Analytics & Insights, Tourism Economics; Stephanie Wear, Director, Air Service Development & Cargo Services, Philadelphia International Airport; Rhett Workman, Managing Director Europe & Asia-Pacific Airport Operations, American Airlines; and Andrew Zeltner, Senior Counsel, Klasko Immigration Law Partners, LLP.
This timely webinar focused on the recent White House announcement to end the US travel ban in early November. The halt to the ban on travel from 33 countries, will help rejuvenate the business and leisure travel industry. The ability to travel is the result of a complex interplay of airports, airlines, governments, businesses, and most importantly the people behind it. When travel throughout the transatlantic corridor – one of the busiest and most significant passages in the world – was stopped, no one could have imagined the situation.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, people within the travel industry on both sides of the Atlantic and all over the world, worked tirelessly to protect their employees’ health and jobs, to keep things running, and to deliver to their customers. They never ceased working toward finding a solution to re-open the corridor. Partnership and collaboration throughout the pandemic have been a silver lining. Industry leaders and their teams worked tirelessly with colleagues all over the globe in ways they never imagined. Speakers discussed their reaction to the news about the US lifting the travel ban; how we arrived to this point; and what we may be able to expect through the end of this year as economies navigate the recovery process.
This webinar brought together a group of travel industry leaders, including two airports that signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in May 2021. The objective of this relationship is to increase collaboration and permit greater engagement on a range of topics and issues, geared towards reinforcing recovery from COVID-19. The MoU exemplifies an initiative that contributed to this week’s announcement that the US would follow the UK, and lift restrictions for vaccinated travelers wishing to enter the US.
The themes presenters focused on were: Monday’s announcement – what it means, and what we can expect in terms of timing, the continued challenges, etc. and what changes may be in store; how airports and airlines have and will be embracing the new travel environment, i.e. what will be needed to travel, and how people will need to provide proof; what the direct impact will be on airports, travel service providers, and on the global movement of people and cargo; and the special collaboration between PHL and LHR, and how this facilitates a comprehensive and collaborative travel roadmap between the two nations.
PHL and LHR are the backbone for international business and leisure travel, moving passengers and cargo across the Atlantic Ocean and serving as a springboard for connecting flights throughout the world. The global economy and society depend upon this invaluable route. More than 20 million people travel between the US and the UK every year, delivering valuable trade, travel and tourism opportunities. Overall trade between the UK and US is more than £200 billion per year, and the US is the UK’s top investor, representing 27% of all inward foreign direct investment.
Special thanks to our speakers, event sponsor: Klasko Immigration Law Partners, LLP, and partners from the: Chilean, Eurasian, French, German, Irish, and Japan American Chambers of Commerce, in addition to the Consular Corps and the World Trade Centers of Delaware and Philadelphia.
If you missed the event, click HERE for an on demand playback recording.
Click HERE for photos taken during the webinar.
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Philadelphia Inquirer
Philadelphia Business Journal
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