During PCMA’s 2017 Convening Leaders conference, Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board (L.A. Tourism) launched Meet L.A., a free mobile app reflecting MeetLA.com’s cutting-edge design and features for meeting professionals looking to conduct business in Los Angeles, one of the world’s premier meeting destinations. Following the recent launch of L.A. Tourism’s immersive Virtual Discovery L.A., the Meet L.A. app allows users to handily view the virtual travel platform, quickly browse...
Boeing recorded strong commercial delivery numbers in 2016 and achieved several airplane program milestones. The company delivered 748 commercial airplanes. Boeing booked 668 net orders, valued at $94.1 billion at list prices. The backlog at the end of the year stood at 5,715 unfilled commercial orders. Airplane development programs continued to make progress in 2016. Key milestones for the year included the first flight of the 737 MAX, the opening of the 777X Composite Wing Center in Everett...
Hot on the heels of its acquisition of California-based airline Virgin America, Alaska Airlines is debuting a complimentary new service to help fliers stay connected with friends and loved ones on the ground. Beginning today, guests on Alaska’s Gogo-equipped flights can use iMessage, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger to send greetings from 35,000 feet – for free. “We’re celebrating the new year – and our new, bigger airline – with the rollout of new customer-friendly...
Welcome to the United States of America, but not so fast. It’s illegal to use your phone, but passengers were panicking. Passengers tweeted: Please help us! Customs in #miami is shut down. Panic attacks. Shoving. Chaos. Fire hazard A US Customs computer outage was affecting operations at airports nationwide on New Years Holiday Number 2, January 2nd creating long lines of thousands of disgruntled holiday travelers. Garrett Prather tweeted: Please let US Customs know the Miami airport...
One of the world’s longest high-speed railways has started operating in China, linking the country’s prosperous eastern coast to the less-developed southwest, the state Xinhua news agency has reported. The 2,264-kilometer Shanghai-Kunming rail line runs across the five provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guizhou and Yunnan. It cuts the travel time from Shanghai to the capital of Southwest China’s Yunnan province Kunming from 34 to 11 hours. According to train driver Wang...
With the recent sudden influx of visitors to Japan, there has been also a rise in complaints about the lack of free Wi-Fi hotspots. In an effort to solve this problem, a Japanese telecommunications company, Wire and Wireless Co., Ltd., introduced a free Wi-Fi connection app two years ago, called TRAVEL JAPAN Wi-Fi, for tourists to Japan, while the app is free of charge. Recently the coverage of this service has been expanded, allowing connections at a massive 200,000 hotspots throughout Japan...
Gerry’s Travel has selected Sabre Corporation (NASDAQ: SABR), the leading technology provider to the global travel industry, as its preferred GDS and technology solutions provider. The long-term technology and content agreement makes Sabre the preferred GDS provider for Gerry’s Travel, one of Pakistan’s largest travel agencies. Gerry’s will also adopt Sabre’s PowerSuite solution to automate and connect front, mid and back office agency workflows, allowing for the integration of business...
What is “service?” What really defines “service?” What does it mean when it comes to serving the billions of local, regional and international travelers of the world? Especially at a time of year when the world’s travelling community seems to be on the move to be able to be with what, and who, is most important to them? Expectations of exceptional service delivery perfectly reflect expectations of Santa showing up exactly at midnight, everywhere, for everyone. The term “service” has become a...
In keeping up with passenger need for continuous engagement during their pre- and post-flight experience at their fingertips, Qatar Airways has rolled out innovative features to its mobile functionality over the course of 2016, resulting in greater information available to the passenger during and after the journey, including offering up to 12 languages in mobile web site for the ease and comfort of the customer. All phases of the journey have been improved on the mobile platform, from search...
Based on its successful 2016 edition, Shanghai Hospitality Design & Engineering Expo (HDE) 2017, hosted by UBM Sinoexpo, will expand to over 45,000 sqm of exhibiting space and 90,000 visitors together with the concurrent Hotel Plus Mockup Room Show (Hotel Plus). Events Update With 4 months to go, the preparation work for HDE 2017 is in full swing and the organizers will continue to work closely with all partners concerned to make the April show perfect. A trendy hospitality design event...
Holiday travel and winter getaways are just around the corner. It’s a fun and exciting time you want to share with your friends through posts and photos on social media. However, you might want to think twice before posting your vacation pics and advertising to the world that you are away from home. Social media networks are growing in number and popularity every day. Yet surprisingly users are increasingly less careful with the personal information they share with their “friends.” You may...
Japan Airlines (JAL) today announced it collaborated with IBM to jointly develop IBM MobileFirst for iOS apps –Assign Tech and Inspect & Turn — to improve the aircraft maintenance process. Using iPad Pro and iPhone, aircraft engineers have access to tools and processes that allow them to expedite repairs and modifications to the aircraft. Improving the efficiency of aircraft maintenance for skilled engineers is an important issue for every airline. In the short amount of time that...
Southwest Airlines Co. is committed to enhancing the inflight Customer experience and improving connectivity on Southwest flights across the U.S. and near international destinations. This commitment is demonstrated with the carrier’s announcement today that it has entered into connectivity agreements with Panasonic Avionics Corporation (Panasonic) and Global Eagle Entertainment (GEE). The agreement with Panasonic provides for their Global Communications Services, which include WiFi and...
Simpleview is proud to announce two new additions to their senior leadership team. Cara Frank has been promoted to Vice President of Marketing and Sean Moyle has been named Vice President of Operations. “Both long-term Simpleview employees, Cara and Sean will bring years of hands-on experience and fresh insights to the leadership team,” said Ryan George, Simpleview’s Chief Executive Officer. “Cara’s external interactions and Sean’s internal processes will help align our partners, staff, and...
It’s longer – and deeper – than any other train tunnel in the world. Sunday 11 December 2016 sees the entering into service of the Gotthard Base Tunnel. This pioneering project will enable passengers to speed under the Alps in some 17 minutes. The dual-track tunnel will bring northern and southern Switzerland closer together, and cut travel timebetween neighbouring countries. It will permit passengers from near and far to spend more time at their destination, discovering the...
2016 was no slouch of a year for the meetings industry nor, indeed, for the world at large. Dramatic forces were at play and many of us shared a sense that, even if we wanted to grasp the pace or nature of change taking place, we barely had the time or the head space to do so. 2016 was pivotal – and it felt like it. Looking ahead to 2017, IMEX has identified five trends which, starting at A and ending at Z, are anything but simple or linear in the impact they’ll have on the meetings and events...
Israel’s Minister of Strategic Affairs & Public Diplomacy, Gilad Erdan paid tribute to Israel’s world-renowned sustainable innovation at this week’s first-ever Israeli CSR Experience Conference hosted by Maala, the country’s CSR standards organization. “Today, nearly 90 percent of our waste water is recycled,” Minister Erdan stated. “That’s around four times higher than any other country in the world. It is a remarkable achievement and this benefits not only Israel...
US-based Shoflo, shoflo.tv, an event production software specialist, is this year’s winner of the Tech & Innovation Watch Award presented by ibtm world in partnership with EventMB. The announcement was made today at ibtm world taking place in Barcelona, Spain.
CLICKATICK, the ticketing platform for booking cool and unique things to do and see, has announced their new partnership with App in the Air, the popular pocket companion for air travel with over 1.5 million active users.
Atlantis, Paradise Island today announced that a recent data security incident may have compromised the security of payment information of some customers who used debit or credit cards at food and beverage and retail locations at the Resort between March 9, 2016 and October 22, 2016.
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) today proposed updates for the passenger train safety standards used in the United States as the country looks to add high-speed trains that can travel up to 220 miles per hour and replace its aging passenger fleet.
Boom Technology today unveiled the XB-1 Supersonic Demonstrator, a subscale prototype of the Boom supersonic passenger airliner.
New lanes enable up to five customers to fill their individual bins simultaneously and move through the screening process quicker
Customer-facing security checks at airports and hotels will soon be in the hands of technology such as robots, artificial intelligence and data-processing machines
Qatar’s state-of-the-art airport is first in the Middle East to use Apple Indoor Positioning technology for wayfinding in iOS Mobile App
CodeGen to showcase latest innovations and exciting new developments at WTM
San Jose Airport unveils #SJCRobots, the airport’s new customer service agents
ABPCO and TFI Group join forces to create bespoke membership app
Inflight entertainment and Wi-Fi connectivity to be equipped across China Eastern Airlines fleet of A350s and 787s. China Eastern Airlines has selected Panasonic Avionics Corporation’s (Panasonic) industry-leading eX3 inflight entertainment (IFE) system and Wi-Fi connectivity service for its fleet of 35 new A350s and 787 aircraft. China Eastern Airlines, in partnership with China Telecom Satellite, was the first Chinese carrier to offer Panasonic’s global Wi-Fi service on domestic...
IMEX America drew to a close today, setting records all around.
