By Bev Fearis, published 11/11/20

Here’s a round-up of other business travel news this week:

Norwegian Air has furloughed a further 1,600 staff and has reduced its flight network to just a handful of domestic routes after Norway’s Government refused it more state aid. The airline warned that without additional financial support, it will run out of cash in the first quarter of 2021.

Synergy Global Housing has introduced SynergySMART (Simple Mobile Apartment Reporting Technology), an automated sanitisation and cleanliness tracking web-based platform. Developed in light of the pandemic, it is designed to streamline the tracking and measurement of health and safety protocols at the company’s 110,000-plus unit global inventory.

Cathay Pacific is launching Green Friday alongside its Black Friday flight deals, an initiative to offset carbon emissions for every flight purchased November 20-30. At no additional cost to the customer, Cathay will automatically make attributable monetary contribution to carbon offset projects for all flights purchased on its website during that period.

HBAA is writing to the Chancellor of the Exchequer to ask him to create a ‘Re-Skill and Re-Equip’ fund to help hospitality businesses re-skill their staff and re-equip their companies to enable them to adapt and stay in business. The initiative is aimed at those working in the business events, accommodation, meetings and events sector who might, for example, need to switch to offering virtual and hybrid events, which requires a different skillset.

Accor has signed a partnership with AXA so that guests at its 5,000 worldwide hotels will be eligible for medical support. Under the ALL – Accor Live Limitless – Medical Solutions partnership, guests with non-urgent medical needs during a stay – for example feeling unwell or forgetting a prescription – can contact the hotel reception desk to let the team know they would like to consult a medical professional. The hotel team will then offer the option of a free telephone consultation or access to a selection of AXA-certified healthcare providers for a face-to-face consultation, paid for by the guest.