2020 has been one of the most difficult years in the history of air travel, with airline sales plummeting in March and April following the global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the months since, the travel industry has gradually begun to recover, and as the year comes to a close, the initial distribution of vaccines in several countries provides hope for a continued, steady recovery in 2021.
To close out the year, ARC’s departing CEO, Mike Premo, and incoming CEO, Lauri Reishus, share their reflections on a tumultuous year for travel, as well as their outlook for the coming year.
This year, the ARC team has been dedicated to helping the travel industry navigate the many complexities resulting from the pandemic, including:
-
A surge of refund transactions in the spring, with U.S. travel agency refunds for airline tickets outpacing sales in April and May.
-
Helping travel agencies manage refund and exchange policies for hundreds of airlines.
-
Launching ARC Travel Demand, a new data tool to help companies measure future demand for travel. ARC has made this data available via Snowflake, which enables secure data sharing and layering multiple datasets.
-
Contributing aggregate airline sales data to Boston Consulting Group’s Travel Recovery Insights Portal (TRIP) tool, a free set of dashboards designed to help the travel industry understand the pace and shape of pandemic recovery.
-
Adapting ARC’s annual conference to a free TravelConnect Virtual Series of monthly events and videos.
-
Advising travel agencies and airlines on emerging trends in payments, including the ARC Payments Forum and ARC Fraud Awareness Month.
-
Continuing its work to help airlines and travel agencies implement omnichannel retailing solutions, including an NDC implementation with United Airlines announced in October. Prior to the start of the pandemic, ARC announced its acquisition of nuTravel, complementing its prior omnichannel investments in Traxo and Blockskye.
ARC remains committed to accelerating growth for the travel industry in 2021. For more highlights from 2020, visit ARC’s blog and newsroom. To stay connected and see timely updates, follow ARC on LinkedIn.