Victoria’s mayor says she wants to give the city’s restaurants, pubs and retailers more space to reopen successfully with a plan that could expand outdoor patios to sidewalks, parking lots and streets closed to traffic. Lisa Helps says her council is prepared to quickly approve flexible COVID-19 recovery plans to allow open-air dining experiences in an environment of safe physical distancing for customers and employees.
B.C. restaurants have been restricted to take-out service since March, but Helps says staff will be urged to find ways to have expansion plans in place as the industry prepares to welcome back customers this month. Restaurants Canada, a not-for-profit industry association, says a recent survey of members finds that seven out of 10 owners fear they won’t have enough money to pay their expenses over the next three months.
The Vancouver Airport Authority says it has issued layoff notices to 25 percent of its nearly 550-person workforce, including both management and union employees.
About 26 million passengers go through the Vancouver International Airport each year, but the authority says that figure is expected to drop dramatically because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It predicts it will see between eight and 15 million passengers per year for the next three years.
The authority began offering voluntary departure packages to all employees on April 29, a process that’s now concluded. It says the size of the workforce is no longer sustainable given the lower passenger forecasts.
Ontario is expected to extend its COVID-19 state of emergency to the beginning of June, as retail stores were allowed to partly reopen and the top doctor suggested more restrictions could be loosened soon.
The state of emergency is dealt with separately from the emergency orders, recently extended to May 19, which cover closures of bars and restaurants except for take-out and delivery, theatres, outdoor amenities such as playgrounds, and child care centres.
Ontario has seen a decline in both number of new cases and the positivity rate of testing, while contact tracing is improving, the chief medical officer of health said.
By the weekend health officials may consider advising the province to move to the first stage of its reopening plan, which includes opening select workplaces, allowing for more people at certain events such as funerals, and having hospitals resume some non-urgent surgeries.
Stores and shopping centres
Stores in Ontario were allowed to reopen Monday for curbside pickup and delivery, a move Premier Doug Ford has said will allow thousands of people to return to work. Several Toronto-area malls said some of their stores with street entrances were offering curbside pickup Monday, or would be in the coming days.
Yorkdale Shopping Centre in north Toronto said close to a dozen stores – including food services and department stores – were taking advantage of the newly loosened rules, while the downtown Eaton Centre said four were doing so.
Square One Shopping Centre in nearby Mississauga, said a department store and sporting goods store were offering curbside pickup Monday, with others making preparations.
The measure announced last week is meant to help ramp the economy back up after the pandemic caused unprecedented job losses. According to data released Friday by Statistics Canada, 689,200 Ontarians lost their jobs in April, in addition to the 403,000 the agency says were lost in March.
Garden centres, nurseries, hardware stores and provincial parks have also been allowed to reopen.
Airlines
IAG CEO Willie Walsh said the group, which owns British Airways, Iberia, Vueling and Aer Lingus, is planning for a ‘meaningful return to service in July 2020 at the earliest’ depending on the easing of Covid-19 travel restrictions. But Walsh also said, he doesn’t expect passenger demand to recover to 2019 levels before 2023 at the earliest.
Announcing a first quarter operating loss before exceptional items of €535 ($810.3) million, compared with an operating profit of €135 ($204.5) million for the same three months last year, Walsh said the oubreak has had a ‘devastating impact’ on the global airline and travel sectors.
IAG’s passenger capacity has been reduced by 94% since late March.
It is planning for an overall reduction in passenger capacity of around 50% in 2020, but said these plans are ‘highly uncertain’ and subject to the easing of lockdowns and travel restrictions
Richard Branson’s Virgin Group plans to sell about US $500 million worth of shares in its Virgin Galactic space business to raise cash for its travel companies, which have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. The holding company disclosed its plans Monday in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Branson warned last month that his Virgin Atlantic airline would fail without financial help from the U.K. government, and Virgin Australia filed for bankruptcy protection after failing to get help from the government there.
Miami Air, a charter airline that carried pro sports teams and other customers, appears to have flown its last flight. In a filing Monday, the airline asked to change its bankruptcy case from reorganization to liquidation. It said its financial troubles are a direct result of the coronavirus pandemic that has devastated air travel.
Cruising
Holland America Line cancelled all Alaska, Europe and Canada/New England cruises for 2020. Amsterdam will not operate its Grand Africa Voyage from Boston, to Fort Lauderdale, scheduled for October 2020.
The cruise line said it will protect travel advisor base commissions on bookings for cancelled cruises that were paid in full and for the total amount of the Future Cruise Credits when their clients rebook.
It had previously cancelled all 2020 Land+Sea Journeys, which combine an Alaska cruise with an overland tour to Denali and the Yukon.
Princess Cruises is extending its suspension of select cruises through the end of the 2020 summer season.
Princess cancelled all remaining Europe and transatlantic cruises on Enchanted Princess, Alaska cruises on Emerald Princess and Ruby Princess, Regal Princess, Sky Princess, Crown Princess and Island Princess, summer Caribbean cruises and all Canada & New England cruises on Caribbean Princess and Sky Princess.
Princess has also cancelled all summer to fall cruises departing from Japan on Diamond Princess, Australia-based cruises on Sapphire Princess and Sea Princess through August , July cruises sailing from Taiwan on Majestic Princess, and autumn cruises sailing to Hawaii and French Polynesia on Pacific Princess through November.
Car Rental
Hertz reported a US 356 million first-quarter loss, saying “coronavirus created a major business disruption.” The company noted its lenders agreed to cut it some slack until May 22 but warned that if business doesn’t rebound and it can’t find additional financing sources, it won’t be able to fund its operations over the next 12 months.
Summer solstice at Stonehenge
The coronavirus pandemic has scuttled summer solstice celebrations at Stonehenge, a highlight of the year for thousands of British pagans, druids and assorted revelers.
English Heritage, which looks after the ancient stone circle, says restrictions on public events to slow the spread of the virus make it impossible to hold the event. It said it had decided to cancel the gathering “after much deliberation and in consultation with our partners in the police and the emergency services, the druid and pagan community and others.”
English Heritage says it will stream the sunrise online on the solstice, June 21.
Thousands of people usually gather to watch the sun rise behind the Neolithic monument in southwest England on the Northern Hemisphere’s longest day of the year. Stonehenge, a World Heritage site, is believed to be 4,500 years old. It is known for its alignment with the movements of the sun.
Spain opens
Spain will require all visitors from abroad to quarantine for 14 days if they arrive in the country after May 15. The new Health Ministry order says the goal is to “limit the risks derived from the international traffic of people” during the rollback of the coronavirus lockdown.
Travel agencies and transport companies must inform their customers about the new regulations before they sell their Spain-bound tickets, and airlines need to make sure that passengers fill out a “location card” in case they need to be contacted after their trip.
India eases lockdown
India is reopening parts of its colossal rail network and will run limited trains as the country begins easing its nearly seven-week strict lockdown amid an increase in coronavirus infections.
Special trains will depart from select big cities Tuesday, including Delhi and Mumbai, and run to full capacity. Passengers will be allowed to enter stations only if they are asymptomatic and clear thermal screening; they must maintain social distancing on board and will be given hand sanitizers upon entry and exit.
The train network often described as India’s lifeline spans 67,000 kilometres (42,000 miles) and carries more than 20 million passengers daily.
India’s rail, road and air services were suspended in late March as part of a tight nationwide lockdown that has helped keep confirmed coronavirus infections relatively low for a population of 1.3 billion. But in recent days, as the lockdown has eased and some businesses have reopened, infections and deaths due to COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus, are increasing.