Travel industry's support for community flies high amid Covid-19

MUHAMMAD Fathi Fong Bin Mohd Faizal Fong assists in the day-to-day service management of Alexandra hospital, and provides basic care giving for patients. But the 29-year-old has another identity - that of a flight steward with Singapore Airlines.

The airline industry has faced strong headwinds due to Covid-19. As at June 1, 2020, the group, which comprise Singapore Airlines, SilkAir and Scoot, had operated passenger services to 32 destinations out of Singapore. That number is below the 135 destinations served before the outbreak, and passenger capacity is at 6 per cent of what had been originally scheduled.

However, the rough patch has not deterred the company from giving back to society. As planes are grounded, more than 1,000 staff members are volunteering on the frontlines of the battle against the Covid-19 pandemic. This includes around 500 employees who are supporting healthcare institutions as care ambassadors, and another 500 as transport ambassadors.

Siva Govindasamy, vice-president Public Affairs at Singapore Airlines, said: "In response to Covid-19, SIA has been identifying ways in which its staff can contribute. For the ambassador and social service officer roles, we believe that with our cabin crew's expertise, they would be a natural fit to provide these services. The safety of our staff is our top-most priority, and, hence before implementing the programmes, SIA carefully considered the precautions to be taken to prevent unnecessary exposure to injuries or infections. "

The national carrier also recently launched KrisPay It Forward, a project that offers customers a platform to support the frontline workers.

The initiative allows KrisFlyer members to donate their miles via the KrisPay app to buy food for groups of people, including healthcare workers and conservancy workers in Singapore. The campaign will run until July 15 - or when the target of 50,000 is met - and SIA will match every donation.

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Mr Govindasamy added that an internal task force has been set up to review all aspects of its operations to ensure continued readiness to quickly ramp up services when air travel recovers. This includes modifications to inflight products and end-to-end service delivery. In particular, the company has paid special attention to measures that would provide additional health and safety assurances to its customers and staff members, which include harnessing digital innovation, so boarding passes and baggage tags can be printed at airport self-service kiosks in a contactless way.

"SIA Group's portfolio strategy, with a presence in both the full-service premium and low-fare segments, gives us the right products to meet the demand when air travel returns. Our extensive global network will also help us to flexibly deploy capacity to meet the demand from different markets," said Mr Govindasamy.

Besides the travel industry, the hospitality and services sector has also taken a severe drubbing due to the pandemic.

Transferring talents

The hotel workforce represents more than 40,000 jobs and without international tourism and domestic demand, revenue streams are depleted. Kwee Wei-Lin , president of Singapore Hotel Association, said its hotel members faced the critical challenge of balancing financial obligations while maintaining employment.

Over the past few months, SHA had worked with different government agencies to transfer talents in the hospitality industry to sectors which require them such ashealth ambassadors at essential facilities.

Ms Kwee said: "With every crisis, there are opportunities and lessons to be learned. Timely communication is of the essence in every crisis. Learning our lessons from Sars, we were able to activate our crisis plan very quickly since the outbreak of Covid-19 in late January 2020. As we are now in phase two, the SHA will continue to work closely with government agencies as the industry moves into this next stage of re-opening."

Ms Kwee added that all hotels are now reviewing their operational procedures to implement enhanced hygiene and sanitation protocols.

Grand Hyatt's Nicolette Siow, marketing communications assistant manager, said that reopening plans are centred on ensuring the safety and well-being of the diners and guests.

Ms Siow said: "Enhanced measures will be introduced at our restaurants, which include the sanitisation of tables, chairs and menus before sitting our guests, and the use of masks and gloves by all associates when preparing meals and plating dishes."

Although service industries have experienced significant impact as a result of the ongoing situation, it has also given businesses a chance to explore other opportunities as well.

"At Grand Hyatt Singapore, this situation allowed us to provide our diners a takeout experience so that they can continue to enjoy their favourite dishes in the comfort of their home," said Ms Siow.

The hotel also offered rooms for healthcare workers and embarked on a few CSR activities of its own, such as a meal box giveaway initiative to cabbies and the elderly.

"As taxi drivers in Singapore play a major role in transporting our guests when they visit our city, we worked with Changi Airport Group and the National Taxi Association to prepare lunch boxes for 500 cabbies. We also have been working closely with Food From The Heart since 2015 in contributing excess food from our buffets to the less privileged, and they reached out to us for an opportunity to provide subsidised cooked meals to both staff and the elderly at the St John's Home for Elderly Persons", said Ms Siow.

Ho-Strangas Shyn Yee, director, Global Product Management, Expedia Group, concurred and said that like all travel companies, Expedia Group suffered a major reduction in business since the onset of Covid-19.

"Fortunately, we were ahead of the game, having implemented cost savings measures earlier this year," she added.

To service the unprecedented cancellation volume due to Covid-19, teams across Expedia Group rapidly developed customer self-service options to cancel lodging and air bookings without speaking to an agent and built automation capabilities to allow supply partners to initiate cancellations. As a result, the percentage of cancellation inquiries for air travel that managed without an agent increased from approximately 65 per cent in February to over 95 per cent in April.

Healthcare Heroes

As Singapore doubled down on efforts to contain the spread of the virus, Expedia also focused on helping its customers and suppliers.

To support the needs of healthcare professionals who wanted to protect the health and safety of their families and loved ones at home, Expedia Group brands - Expedia and Hotels.com - teamed up with hotel partners in Singapore to launch the Healthcare Heroes Programme on April 9.

The programme provides rooms at substantially-discounted rates for healthcare professionals at the frontlines to have the flexibility to self-isolate, rest and recuperate.

The programme also provides an immediate source of income to affected hoteliers whose businesses have been impacted heavily by the current public health situation. From an initial group of 14 hotel partners, it has now expanded to 36.

"Due to the strong demand from the healthcare sector and support from our hotel partners, we have extended the programme for check-in dates up to July 31, 2020," said the director.

"Expedia Group's employees have the chance to see amazing things and explore new communities, but they are also encouraged to make a difference. Through Expedia Cares, they can fight against inequality in all forms, help to shift circumstance and drive change in places that need it most," said Ms Ho-Strangas.