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A brutal ending is taking shape for what’s already been a lost year for Europe’s travel industry, as Covid-19 administers a final kick to airlines, innkeepers and travelers alike.
A mutant strain of the coronavirus spreading rapidly in the U.K. led Prime Minister Boris Johnson to clamp down on holiday visits at home and abroad over the weekend. Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium were among the countries closing their borders to the former European Union state, with others preparing to follow suit.
Airlines that were seeing a glint of the typical holiday bustle are now canceling flights or sending planes out empty so stranded Brits can return. U.K. hoteliers and operators of holiday lets are coming up empty during one of the busiest times of the year. Train operators contended with chaos over the weekend amid a rush to leave London, while travelers hoping to squeeze in a visit to family or a sunny getaway are spending time on the phone seeking refunds.
“Fundamentally no one expected winter to be good,” Citigroup analyst Mark Manduca said of the airline industry’s year-end swoon. “We knew it was going to be bad, it is bad, it just turns out it’ll be very bad.”
Setback for Airlines
The U.K. was Europe’s top air-travel market before Sunday’s lockdown
Source: Eurocontrol, based on Dec. 19 flights
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In coming days, thousands of flights are likely to be canceled.
Before the latest lockdowns, airlines anticipated offering just under a million seats this week between the U.K. and western Europe, said Anne Correa, vice president for airline and airport services at consulting firm Morten Beyer & Agnew. While that’s down by more than two-thirds from a year ago, the run-up to Christmas was supposed to be one of the few bright spots for the industry this year.
Ryanair Holdings Plc and EasyJet Plc will see the biggest immediate impact, she said, given they sell 49% of the seats between the U.K. and Europe.
“These bans are going to lead to the disruption of travel plans for thousands of travelers and the loss of peak revenues for the airlines,” said John Strickland of JLS Consulting.
Bearing the Brunt
Who pays is often dependent on the fine print of plane and train tickets that few read until a crisis hits. On social media, customers engaged in refund battles with airlines, train operators and ticket brokers.
So @EastMidRailway Boris has made it illegal for me to leave London and celebrate Christmas , yet you won’t give me a refund on my Christmas train ticket… talk about rubbing salt in the wound!!!!
Some airlines like EasyJet quickly said they’ll offer cash refunds to customers whose travel was disrupted, while IAG SA’s British Airways and long-haul specialist Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. said they’ll limit compensation to vouchers or waive change fees.
Irish discounter Ryanair said Sunday it’ll provide refunds where EU countries ban travel between Dec. 20 and Dec. 24, but not to other countries to which the airline is permitted to fly.
Stranded Travelers
Beyond the damage to their wallets, would-be travelers found their plans dashed. Twitter user Franchesca_3 said she was unable to board a flight from Britain to Sweden, where she is moving, on Sunday because it would stop in Amsterdam, where the Netherlands had prohibited U.K. arrivals. She said she’s hoping to get to her destination before Sweden follows with its own ban.
Those thwarted trying to leave the U.K. risk being stranded without a place to stay. The Premier Inn Wimbledon Broadway in south London said it was open but anyone booking a room must prove they are there for a legitimate reason such as business, by showing a letter or email.
Operators of small holiday lettings were also out of pocket. Airbnb told customers they should get a refund if travel is restricted, under a policy put into place before the latest rules were enacted.
Cottages.com, Britain’s biggest provider of self-catering accommodations, told proprietors it was contacting all guests who live in a Tier 4 area — including London and much of southeast England — to cancel reservations and offer a later booking or refund.
Scotland will move to Tier 4, the most severe U.K. lockdown category, from Dec. 26 through at least mid-January, while in Wales, all holiday accommodation must close, Cottages.com said.
Trains and Cabs
Rail stations serving express routes out of London were packed on Saturday night amid an exodus ahead of the new rules. Some travelers rented cars or booked taxis for journeys spanning hundreds of miles to flee the capital and be with loved ones for the holidays.
Eurostar International Ltd. said it will refund passengers unable to travel on its trains through the Channel Tunnel, though the impact will be limited by demand already running at less than 30% of the usual Christmas level became of previous curbs.
Manduca, the Citigroup analyst, said the chaos at year-end would likely have a knock-on effect, causing some travelers to delay making bookings in the early part of the year for summer travel.
While he expects negative sentiment on airline stocks in the short-term, he said low-cost carriers such as Ryanair could benefit from pricing power when travel snaps back. Airlines have become more nimble with costs and can more easily adapt to shorter booking lead-times, he said.
“I don’t think it’ll have a big impact on the fundamentals,” he said. “Summer may be quite good.”
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
