Just over 100 years ago there was no air travel and transport was by land or sea; its hard to understand how life ran so normally without the ease and speed of international air transport. Yet here we are with multiples of countries where there are no airports open and we are told by the press that the impact on travel is the worst since 9/11. Closed or partly closed as we blog are the following airports: Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Slovakia, Switzerland, Austria, France, Germany, Norway, Poland, Republic of Ireland, Sweden and UK . Closer to home at MSE Paul Sanett, Development Director for Hilton Worldwide and partner of our colleague Ariel Freeman is finally on his way back to the UK having been stranded in Iceland for the last 48 hours. Karen Skelton, our International Hotel and Hospitality Associate had her trip to Milan postponed as all flights were cancelled from Gatwick Airport.
Whilst at breakfast with a client at the Lanesborough Hotel, London this morning one guest was overheard to ask if could have a list of all directly accessable European Airports open from London in order to return home and received a short response ....Zurich.
Taking a broader view there will be winners and losers from this force majeure; hotels are reporting overbooking as stranded passengers seek accommodation, tourist attractions are also likely to reap the benefit as visitors search for entertainment to keep them occupied during this unforseen natural disaster and of course buses, boats and trains are experiencing record bookings as passengers try to get home come what may by any means they can.
