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Comprehensive learning program delivers ‘creative collisions’ at IMEX in Frankfurt

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‘Everyone has the potential to think creatively. Children are able to think of more than 60 new solutions per day in response to a problem. As we get older, this reduces to about six a day. Why not learn to think creatively again?’ Gebert Janssen, founder and CEO of the Party and Eventarchitect, and one of the speakers at IMEX in Frankfurt, summarises the challenge planners face in generating fresh content.

Many of the learning sessions at IMEX in Frankfurt, taking place 21 – 23 May (with EduMonday, May 20), focus on the topic of imagination, IMEX’s Talking Point for this year. The result is a wide range of learnings and insights delivered by experts from both within and outside the global business events industry.


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Disruptive thinking

The team behind DUNDU, the giant puppet and previous playful addition to the show, will share their expertise on how to use art to boost playfulness in Puppet-thinking: where puppetry and design thinking collide. Sam McNeill, Song Division’s UK/Europe General Manager and one of the world’s most in-demand MC’s, will also explain the benefits of song writing as a route to problem-solving in Creating a culture of innovation.

True to their name, Marmalade on Toast will be taking an alternative approach to technology and innovation. Founder Simon Harmer thinks ‘the industry is ripe for disruption’ and will explain more in his session Using innovation to disrupt and engage. Meanwhile, the Editor-in-chief of Love Inc. Brittny Drye, will share her advice on creating authentic, inclusive content in Taking the next steps to becoming an equality-minded event business.

The topic of imagination will be expanded in a series of ‘Power chats’ delivered by some members of the IMEX Team. Based on first-hand experience, these interactive insights into the different facets of the show’s Imagination Talking Point will cover diversity and inclusion, imagination in action, and sustainability.

New for 2019 is PCMA’s #Iamremarkable workshop on EduMonday. Designed to tackle ‘gender-related modesty norms and glass ceilings’, this session will empower everyone taking part to speak openly about their accomplishments, in the workplace and beyond. It will be led by Katarzyna Seidl, Strategic Partner Manager in Global Partnerships Team at Google and Florian Ahle, global Brand Evangelist and Auto brand marketing expert who also teaches for the Google Digital Academy in London #iamremarkable is one of three specially-tailored PCMA workshops, with the next at PCMA’s EduCon in Los Angeles in June and the third at IMEX America in September.

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Experiences alongside education

New experiences and activities introduced at this year’s show will fire up the imagination of planners and exhibitors alike. Many of these can be found at the show’s new Discovery Zone which is home to holograms, robots, illusionists, music and art along with a few surprises. EduMonday on May 20 at Kap Europa will showcase its own ‘Imagination Zone’ where attendees can tap into their artistic streak at a painting party or unleash some fancy moves at a silent disco.

‘Creative collisions’

Carina Bauer, CEO of the IMEX Group, explains: “With over 250 educational events over four days, we have designed this year’s programme to supercharge the skills of planners and exhibitors alike. This year’s focus – imagination – takes learning to a new level with advice, stories and direction from boundary breaking experts from inside and outside of our industry.

“It’s been wonderful to see so many partners, one being MPI, leveraging our Talking Point and using it to rethink their engagement and education delivery at the show. They’re a great example of a partner who asked ‘what if….?’ and came up with some fresh new concepts as a result.

“With such a diverse combination of learning, experiences, connections and a huge dose of memorable surprises, we’re expecting some exciting, creative collisions and, of course, plenty of bumper business meetings between buyers and suppliers in a few weeks’ time!”

IMEX in Frankfurt takes place 21 – 23 May 2019. Registration for the show is free of charge and open to all who work in the meetings, events and incentive travel industry. EduMonday takes place the day before the show, on Monday 20 May, and is free to enter following registration for IMEX in Frankfurt.

MEDIA CONTACTS: Emma Ward, emma.ward@imexexhibitions.com ; Chris Lewis, chris.lewis@imexexhibitions.com

SITA: Tracking airline passenger bags drives 66% improvement in baggage delivery

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Airlines that are adding tracking at more points of the baggage journey are enjoying a huge improvement in bag delivery globally. The SITA 2019 Baggage IT Insights – officially launched at an event in Abu Dhabi International Airport today – shows that where tracking is done at check-in and loading onto the aircraft, the rate of improvement is as high as 66%.

These results come as the record drop in the baggage mishandling rate achieved globally over the past decade plateaus, with the rate steady at around 5.7 bags per thousand passengers over the past three years. In 2018, the rate was 5.69 per thousand passengers.

Over the past year, an increasing number of airlines and airports have started to introduce tracking at key points in the journey – check-in, loading onto the aircraft, transfers and arrival – to improve baggage management and further reduce the chances of a bag being mishandled. SITA’s research provides the first glimpse of the success of this tracking. It reveals that where bags were being tracked when loaded onto the aircraft, the rate of improvement ranged between 38% and 66% depending on the level of tracking introduced.

Peter Drummond, Director of Baggage at SITA, said: “While the mishandling rate has started to plateau over the past few years, this comes against a continued growth in passenger numbers and their bags. In 2018, 4.36 billion travelers checked in more than 4.27 billion bags. More bags makes things more challenging. Everyone across the industry needs to look beyond the process and technology improvements made in the past decade and adopt the latest technology such as tracking to make the next big cut in the rate of mishandled bags.”

Ahmed Juma Al Shamsi, Acting Chief Operations Officer at Abu Dhabi Airports, said: “For our passengers the timely delivery of baggage is key to ensuring a seamless passenger experience and therefore an area in which we continue to make further improvements. Looking forward, baggage tracking is fundamental to driving more accurate bag delivery not only at Abu Dhabi International Airport but across the entire passenger journey. We have led the way with the introduction of tracking on arrival and we have already seen significant improvements.”

Transferring baggage from one aircraft, or airline, to another remains a pinch point in the journey and in 2018 it was again the main reason for bags being mishandled. Transfer bags accounted for 46% of all mishandled bags.
Drummond added: “Transfer is by far the most difficult stage to track a bag as there are multiple airlines and airports involved. However, data from this year’s report shows that tracking at key points in the journey, such as transfers, will go a long way to eliminating mishandling and will allow airlines and their passengers to keep tabs on where their bags are at every step of the way.”

Over the past decade, total number of mishandled bags per annum has plummeted 47% from 46.9 million in 2007 to 24.8 million in 2018, while the annual bill footed by the industry has shrunk 43% to $2.4 billion, down from $4.22 billion in 2007.

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Air Seychelles gets ready for delivery of their first Airbus A320NEO

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Air Seychelles has over the past few months started to implement its training calendar in preparation for the delivery of the A320neo set for July 2019.

Last week, key staff members from the Technical Operations and Project Management including the Flight Operations team, as well as representatives from the Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority, attended the A320neo general familiarization training held in-house at the Air Seychelles head office in Pointe Larue.

The training held over four days, delivered by Mr. Michael Mahn, an experienced engineer from Airbus, provided the participants a general overview of the airframe that is the whole mechanical structure of the new aircraft. Currently another batch of staff members from similar areas within the business are also taking part in the training which commenced on Monday, April 15, and lasted until Thursday, April 18, 2019.

During the month of February, the Airbus Hamburg Training Centre welcomed the first group of Air Seychelles aircraft engineers as part of its comprehensive A320neo training program. The agenda composed of both theory and on-the-job experience provided the technical operations team further knowledge on how to conduct maintenance on the A320neo besides having the chance to view the Airbus assembly line.

Held from Monday, February 18, until Wednesday, February 27, the sessions in Hamburg were attended by engineers Clyne De -Letourdis, David Saminaden, and Denys Assan.

In addition to that, as of Tuesday, February 5, until Thursday, February 7, Manager of Cabin Safety Standards, Magdalena Hubert, and Manager for Cabin Safety Training Programs, Dereck Charlette, also had the chance to participate in the Airbus A320neo safety training held at the Airbus Training Centre Europe in Toulouse.

The training will proceed over the next upcoming months as part of the entry into service program of the new Air Seychelles A320neo aircraft.

The Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority in the meantime is progressing the type approval of this new aircraft which had not been registered in the Seychelles before and, therefore, requires additional regulatory approvals and licensing measures.

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Jamaica’s Tourism Minister Bartlett pumps J$200 million into Linkages Networks

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Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett has committed J$200 million to the Linkages Networks to help build out more products to enhance the visitor experience and ensure more inclusive growth in the sector.

Speaking at the launch of the new Top Events Jamaica Initiative yesterday at Devon House, Minister Bartlett said, “This year, we will be spending 200 Million dollars on the Networks to create the level of inclusiveness that connects the ordinary Jamaican to the tourism product and the product to the ordinary Jamaican.

This will be a huge game changer and we are going to change the narrative and also change the feeling of the public that tourism is only for the bigger suppliers and doesn’t include the smaller players.”

The Tourism Linkages Network’s (TLN’s) main focus has been to bring local tourism suppliers in contact with other sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing. In doing so, the Linkages Network creates more economic opportunities for our local tourism suppliers who can then earn more.

Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett (1st R) paused for a photo at the track and field display at the launch of the new Top Events Jamaica Initiative yesterday at Devon House

Driving this inclusive growth are five networks geared towards building out authentic Jamaican experiences for the visitors and increasing the earning potential of small suppliers and they are – Gastronomy, Sports and Entertainment, Shopping, Knowledge and Health and Wellness.

The new Top Events Jamaica initiative, being spearheaded by the TLN, is designed to increase visitor participation in events and activities island-wide through strategic partnerships and leveraging the power of technology, social media, and advertising.

In highlighting the importance of this new platform, Minister Bartlett, said, “Top Events will place all our best entertainment products and offerings under one roof. In doing so we are allowing visitors and locals alike to chance to find these offerings with the click of a button. Top events will be a critical element that brings together our authentic Jamaican entertainment products under one roof through the use of technology.

This type of interface is critical in the age of technology especially given that entertainment forms a large part of why people travel and as such there is value in building out more products of this nature to drive arrivals and growth in the sector.”

The Top Events initiative will include a microsite and an easy to use mobile app to increase visitor awareness and participation in the over 900 events held in Jamaica each month. To qualify for listing on Top Events, event organizers must meet the predetermined criteria outlined by the TLN that guarantees continuity in the content delivery and effective data capture.

The TLN’s Sports and Entertainment Network (SEN) will be the driving force behind Top Events Jamaica and the body ultimately responsible for the final selection of “Top Events” to be added to the event calendar.

MEDIA CONTACT: Jamaica Ministry of Tourism, Corporate Communications, 64 Knutsford Boulevard, Kingston 5, Tel: 920-4926-30, Fax: 920-4944

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Montréal-Trudeau Airport awarded prestigious 4-Star rating

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Montréal-Trudeau Airport (YUL) has for the first time been awarded a prestigious 4-Star rating under the Skytrax World Airport Star Rating program, joining the ranks of other major world airports. The results obtained from this ranking, considered a benchmark in the global airport industry, stem from an audit conducted last March.

This fourth star recognizes the major investments made in recent years to modernize the airport’s infrastructure and achieve the highest industry standards, as well as employee efforts to enhance the passenger experience day after day.

“In 2018, Aéroports de Montréal challenged itself to obtain a 4-Star Skytrax rating for the YUL site,” said Philippe Rainville, President and CEO of Aéroports de Montréal. “After pushing our limits and raising the bar to improve customer experience, we learned today that the challenge has been successfully met. ADM is extremely proud of the dedication and excellent work done by all employees at the airport and in the airport community.”

In the past year, many initiatives have been put in place to enhance the passenger experience and the fluidity of processes, as well as to optimize terminal maintenance. YUL now has a new team of ambassadors serving passengers, technology-based control and monitoring processes to ensure the cleanliness of facilities, self-service baggage check-in kiosks, and a fifth baggage carousel in the international zone.

The “World Airport Star Rating,” created in 2000, is recognized in the industry as a global benchmark for airport standards. Ratings range from 1 Star to the most prestigious 5-Star rating. Skytrax specializes in ranking international airline organizations and advises airlines and airports around the world on ways to improve the quality of service delivery and facility management.

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