{"id":4415,"date":"2020-05-04T13:00:45","date_gmt":"2020-05-04T13:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.binah.ai\/?p=4415"},"modified":"2020-12-22T12:08:24","modified_gmt":"2020-12-22T12:08:24","slug":"sky-high-problem-how-digital-healthcare-apps-could-get-the-airline-industry-back-on-cloud-nine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.binah.ai\/ja\/sky-high-problem-how-digital-healthcare-apps-could-get-the-airline-industry-back-on-cloud-nine\/","title":{"rendered":"Sky-High Problem: How Digital Healthcare Apps Could Get the Airline Industry Back on Cloud Nine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

To watch the webinar that inspired this blog post, please go here<\/span>.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The COVID-19 pandemic might well be the most significant event of our lifetime, sending the economy into global turmoil. Within this, hardly any industry has been impacted to a greater extent than airlines and hospitality and overseas travel. At least half of the planes in the world are currently grounded<\/a>, hotels and other short-term hospitality services report an over 50% decrease in bookings, with millions of reservations cancelled… Several major airlines are relying on government grants and loans<\/a> to get them through the crisis, while those that are still sending flights out have cut their schedules for May and June by 90%.<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doug Parker, CEO of American Airlines has recently voiced the thoughts of the industry, and posed the question that\u2019s on everyone\u2019s minds. \u201cOur revenues are down 90% on a year-over-year basis and they\u2019ve been that way now for a few weeks. The real question is how long you stay at the bottom and when do we begin to recover. I don\u2019t think I know that better than anybody else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Could Public Health Monitoring Provide a Glimmer of Sunlight?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The truth is that no one can imagine when recovery will begin, with consumers nervous to even think about air travel before 2021, at the earliest. Airlines are attempting to incentivize air travel with bargain basement ticket prices, flexible cancellation policies, and anything else in their arsenal. Hospitality giants, such as Airbnb, Expedia, Booking.com and others are providing unheard of deals to try and provide some reassurance to the small amounts of travellers that are still able to travel – but these ideas are not real answers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite all of this doom and gloom, the beginnings of a new path are already being glimpsed in the travel,airline and hospitality industries, a way to implement solutions through health monitoring tools for preventing the spread of any viruses at the airports and hotels as well as in close quarters during a flight, and hotels visits and when crossing borders into a new country on arrival. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emirates has become the first airline to introduce on-site rapid testing for COVID-19<\/a> to all passengers from Dubai, with blood tests done at check-in, and results available within 10 minutes. Alongside other protective measures, this is allowing the airline to continue to remain in business, without threatening the health and safety of passengers or staff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Safe New World through Digital Healthcare Technology<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It might seem unrealistic to think that on-site rapid testing could become the norm, but this is not the first time that air travel has gone through a major transformation. Consider what airport security was like prior to 9\/11, and what it\u2019s like now. Passengers are happy to have the extra layer of security, including full body scanners where necessary, if it means that they can have peace of mind against the threats of terrorism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now consider a new level of protection, not for what\u2019s inside your luggage, but for what\u2019s inside your body. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are a few options for the kind of checks, measures and system changes that we can envisage happening in order for the airline and hospitality industry to get back on its feet: <\/p>\n\n\n\n