Hong Kong International Airport is one of the most important aviation hubs in Asia and saw more than 40 million travellers in 2023. Served by 120 airlines, who whisk travellers to 220 destinations on 1,100 daily flights, the airport is one that’s constantly evolving to meet the needs of air travellers, and eventually you’re probably going to transit through this vibrant hub. Here’s how to make the most of your time.

Four Hours or Less

While Hong Kong International is certainly closer to the city than many other major aviation hubs like Dubai and Shanghai Pudong, you might only have time to explore the terminal before your onward flight. HKIA prides itself on its luxury retail opportunities, as well as its varied dining. The airport is also home to a host of pay-in lounges, including the newly opened Kyra Lounge near gate 25. There are also shower facilities available, as well as plenty of lounging spaces and even gaming and movie areas.

For a great vantage point, head to the Skybridge with its Intervals cocktail bar (above) and spectacular views of the apron and runway.

4–8 hours: Quick City Exploration

For a longer layover, consider a fast trip to nearby Tung Chung or even downtown Hong Kong. From the airport, take the Airport Express (24 minutes to Central) or a taxi (30–40 minutes) for a whirlwind tour. Explore the Ngong Ping 360 cable car and Big Buddha on Lantau Island (a 25-minute drive), or visit the Citygate Outlets for shopping in Tung Chung. If you’re craving urban vibes, head to Central for a quick dim sum meal at Tim Ho Wan or catch the iconic Star Ferry for stunning harbour views.

8–15 hours: Deeper City Dive

With more time, you can dive into Hong Kong’s rich culture. After arriving in Central via the Airport Express, take a quick walk to SoHo and visit the trendy boutiques, bars, and restaurants, or explore the local antique market. Wander through Man Mo Temple (above), and ride the Peak Tram to Victoria Peak for stunning skyline views.

Grab a tram in Central and make for vibrant Causeway Bay, home to the city’s best shopping, or delve into the Wan Chai Computer Centre for great electronic finds. Don’t miss a bite at Lung King Heen, a three-Michelin-star restaurant in the Four Seasons Hotel. You can return to the airport quickly on the Airport Express or via a taxi.

Overnight: Full Experience and Stay

For overnight layovers, enjoy an even fuller Hong Kong experience. Book a stay at the brand-new The Regent Hong Kong in Tsim Sha Tsui, which offers luxurious accommodations and convenient city access. After checking in, you can explore the city’s nightlife in Lan Kwai Fong, take in a Symphony of Lights show at Victoria Harbour, or enjoy a leisurely dinner at Mott 32, a high-end Chinese restaurant.

You even have time to take a ferry to one of the Outer Islands, including bohemian Lamma, charming Cheung Chau, or the coveted beaches of Lantau. Alternatively, have your fortune told at the Temple Street Markets, or grab a bargain and a bite to eat at the sprawling Harbour City or K11 malls in Tsim Sha Tsui.

Whatever the length of your layover, Hong Kong provides a seamless mix of relaxation, culture, and urban exploration to make your transit a memorable part of your journey.

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The post Here’s How to Get the Most From Your Hong Kong Transit first appeared on The Art of Business Travel.

The new city lounge has been designed to serve all travellers, regardless of whether they are taking a plane, train or bus.

The location was selected in the heart of Osaka, a bustling commercial hub, to be conveniently accessible by various modes of transportation, including buses and trains, which link Japan’s second largest city to the airport as well as other cities including Kyoto, Nara, and Nagoya.

Corporate travellers can seek travel advice and detailed tourist information from the lounge’s travel concierge, book transportation tickets, and arrange limousine services. Importantly, the lounge team can provide services in multiple languages including Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean, so that all business travellers, regardless of whether they are using the lounge, can ask questions.

The new lounge also offers temporary luggage storage and delivery services as well as currency exchange and umbrella loans. The City Terminal is fully equipped with Wi-Fi and provides a comfortable space for weary travellers to relax and enjoy a selection of meals and drinks, which include complimentary Costa Signature Blend coffee, tea, soft drinks, and a selection of instant soups and light snacks.

“Since our founding 26 years ago, PPG is known for our award-winning, independent global network of airport lounges,” says Mei Mei Song, director of Global Brand and Transformation. “The City Terminal is an extension of our mission to make travel better, regardless of where that journey is happening.”

 “With the increase in foreign visitors to Japan, it is essential for the country to provide better services and hospitality, says Teppei Nishino, founder and CEO of JWIDE. “We aim to make Japan a more convenient, reliable, safe, and comfortable destination for both foreign visitors and Japanese residents. To this end, we have partnered with Plaza Premium Group to establish our first City Terminal in Osaka Umeda. Moving forward, we plan to expand City Terminals and Lounges to major terminal stations, city centres and airports nationwide.

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Strengthening its position in the wider Greater Bay Area and enhancing customers’ intermodal travel experience, Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific has opened its first-ever lounge outside of an airport.

The lounge is now open to guests at the Shekou Cruise Home Port in Shenzhen, enhancing the intermodal travel experience for the airline’s customers and elevating sea-to-air connectivity between Hong Kong International Airport and the whole of the Greater Bay Area.

“As Hong Kong International Airport continues to strengthen its sea and land connections with neighbouring cities in the Greater Bay Area, we are excited to open our brand-new Cathay Pacific lounge at the Shekou Cruise Home Port to our customers travelling from the region,” says Cathay Group Chief Executive Officer Ronald Lam. “We are committed to continuing to invest, and delivering a more comfortable and convenient travel experience for our customers. 

Cathay Pacific has the ambition of becoming the leading premium airline of choice for international travel to and from its extended home market of the Greater Bay Area. Central to achieving this goal is providing a wide range of reliable and convenient intermodal services, including air, sea and land options, for Greater Bay Area customers to connect with their Cathay Pacific flights at Hong Kong International Airport. 

In addition to lounge access for applicable passengers, Cathay Pacific customers can enjoy effortless transfers using its codeshare ferry services to go directly from the Shekou Cruise Home Port to the SkyPier Terminal at Hong Kong International Airport. Currently, there are 11 round-trip ferry services per day between the Shekou Cruise Home Port and the SkyPier Terminal.

The ferry journey takes approximately 30 minutes and customers can collect their ferry tickets and boarding passes and also check in their luggage before arriving at the airport.

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The BCD survey of 1,349 business travellers worldwide looked at payment and expenses in business travel and looked at payment methods travellers use while travelling, pain points they experience, and tools at their disposal to make their life easier.

When it comes to payment methods, 79% of travellers use a corporate credit card. Other payment methods include personal cards (26%), personal cash (12%) and direct company payments to travel suppliers through bank transfers or lodge cards (16%). Only 1% use a virtual card, even though 26% are familiar with this method. The BCD survey also found that one in six business travellers has fallen victim to credit card fraud on a business trip, despite the measures taken.

“Companies looking for ways to simplify payment for their travellers should explore the benefits of payment automation enabled by virtual credit cards,” says Ajay Singh, vice president, Digital Payment and Expense Products at BCD. “Virtual payment automation makes it easier to centrally pay for hotel or car bookings. It automatically generates a single-use virtual card number for each transaction and matches all charges to a specific booking. This not only makes the payment process easier for travellers, it also greatly reduces the risk of fraud.”

In terms of payment, staying within the reimbursement policy (29%) is the biggest pain point, followed by the need to pay for travel expenses out of their own pocket (20%) and the necessity to have cash in the local currency (20%). Travellers encounter far more challenges when it comes to expenses. More than half of the respondents report the time spent creating expense reports (63%) as the biggest pain point. Other key obstacles are collecting paper receipts (54%), collecting receipts in different formats (52%), keeping receipts after the trip is over (51%) and expensing complex categories, such as hotel stays with meals and other incidentals paid separately (50%).

Looking at expense tools, the most valuable features for business travellers are all related to process automation, such as travel receipts automatically attached to their expense reports (76%), credit card transactions automatically matched to their trip expenses (72%), and expense reports automatically pre-populated with trip data when booking their trip (67%)

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The Opinium survey of 2,000 business travellers in Australia, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, commissioned by global travel risk management organisation World Travel Protection, found women are more likely to take measures to protect their safety during business travel, including not going out on their own at night (31%) and staying in close touch with family and friends (46%). One in ten women surveyed had experienced a negative incident, ranging from minor theft to assault and, for Australia specifically, more than double the number of women versus men do not like travelling to countries where women’s rights aren’t protected (39% vs. 15%).

Almost one in five (19%) women business travellers also feel their organisation should act with women’s safety in mind when they are travelling alone, for example ensuring that flights do not arrive late at night.

Interestingly, in their hotel or accommodation, both men and women take extra steps to protect their security, for instance placing a chair or obstacle against the hotel door to deter a potential intruder (16% both men and women), and using room service so they don’t have to eat in a restaurant on their own (17% both men and women). Moreover, one in five women business travellers (21%) prefer to stay in hotels that make provision for solo women travellers and a similar proportion (19%) wear a wedding ring (real or fake) to avoid unwanted attention.

“It’s important to note that, compared to men, women often have different safety considerations to think about when travelling for work,” says Kate Fitzpatrick, Regional Security Director, EMEA at World Travel Protection. “The risk will generally increase in countries with less equality. It’s essential, therefore, that women have a full understanding of the cultural norms in their destinations from what to wear to how they act, for example perhaps avoiding alcohol in public. We often undertake specific risk assessments for women business travellers to make sure their safety and security is the highest priority.”

“As well as safety considerations, women business travellers may face gender bias in some cultures where it’s not the norm to have women in senior roles. I’ve personally experienced sexism and push-back because of my gender,” says Fitzpatrick. “People are surprised to meet a woman Director of Security, and whether it is a police chief in South America or a site risk inspection in West Africa, I regularly have to detail my past work in security and government law enforcement to give me credibility, something which my men colleagues never have to do.”

World Travel Protection educates and trains businesses to mitigate exposure to inherent risks associated with travelling abroad, for all staff, whatever their gender. The organisation also provides 24-hour medical, travel and security emergency assistance including medical case management, evacuation and repatriation, together with providing access to virtual care services (telehealth) and security intelligence.

The Opinium online survey was conducted with 2,001 people, who travel for business at least once a year in the UK, Australia, the US and Canada, from 23 January to 2 February 2023

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Only 24 months ago, business travel was synonymous with global corporations and senior executives’ roles. During the global lockdowns, companies have experienced the direct impact of no travel or in-person meetings on their business functions and operations. In new research from VistaJet, in association with WSJ Intelligence, that impact is quantified for the first time.

 For The Future of Business Travel report over 200 high-level company executives in the U.S., EMEA and APAC were surveyed about the essential role and value of travel in their professional lives.

 During the pandemic, travel has been limited for 90% of companies surveyed, and almost all (97%) said their businesses experienced negative impacts directly related to those restrictions. Nearly one-quarter (24%) indicated massive or substantial disruptions across all eight areas measured, and 87% cited massive or substantial disruption in at least one area. More than a third (37%) said international business development and product launches took a hit due to a lack of in-person presence.

As restrictions ease, built-up anticipation for business travel is clear, with 81% saying business travel will be more important than ever to driving success. Among respondents who take eight or more private flights a year, 60% plan to significantly increase in-person meetings.

VistaJet has seen a surge of 49% in corporate interest around the world since the start of the pandemic, confirming that flying private continues to be a key support for business travel. The main benefits of taking private flights for business travel are reported by those surveyed, in order, are flexibility, efficiency, safety, and privacy. The two top priorities for trips are visiting partners and vendors and going to industry events, each at 34%. Managing current relationships and building new ones are also key drivers.

The return to business travel largely hangs on regulations — 46% of respondents are waiting for destinations to reopen; 42% want updated COVID-19 data and rules for destinations; 36% seek support in case COVID-19 regulations change during a trip, and the same number await relaxation of their own company’s travel policies.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has upended the world, including travel,” says Ian Moore, Chief Commercial Officer, VistaJet. “It also showed that some business travel is truly essential and having to forgo in-person trips came at a real cost to companies. Additionally, it is hard to read a room when everyone is in individual windows on-screen — misunderstandings can occur, especially across cultures, and these, in turn, can become costly mistakes.”

To further support businesses around the world connect and restart the economy in the midst of heightened market insecurity, VistaJet recently launched a new Corporate Membership, offering speed and maximum flexibility with payment in arrears, unlimited flying hours, guaranteed availability of additional aircraft, and streamlined travel logistics.

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The post Business Travel Will Drive Success Says Global Leaders in New Study first appeared on The Art of Business Travel.

The Air Travel Bubble, which was due to commence May 26, has been put off due to rising Covid case numbers in Singapore. The first bubble, set for November 2020, was also cancelled due to high case numbers in Hong Kong.

Singapore reported 28 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, including 21 community of which ten are linked to previous cases and 11 are currently unlinked. Amongst them, six had already been placed in quarantine. The seven remaining cases were imported.

Singapore and Hong Kong will now monitor the situation and decide on a new launch date of ATB flights towards the latter part of Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) in Singapore, which ends June 13. Both sides remain strongly committed to launching the ATB safely. However, in light of the recent increase in unlinked community cases, Singapore is unable to meet the criteria to start the Singapore-Hong Kong ATB. Singapore and Hong Kong will closely monitor the public health situation in both places and review the new launch date of the ATB flights towards the end of Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) in Singapore.

Travellers can still continue their journey on non-designated ATB flights but will be subject to the prevailing border control and health requirements of both places, which includes a seven-day Stay-Home notice for travellers returning to Singapore while those returning to Hong Kong will face a 21-day hotel quarantine (14 days for those travellers that are fully vaccinated).

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With the new service, guests get trusted health and safety standards, consistent fares, and professional chauffeurs in premium vehicles with the ease of ride-hailing. The global chauffeur service already offers scheduled rides in 50 countries. Blacklane’s new on-demand rides maintain the same premium quality, health, and safety standards, fixed competitive fares, and sustainability as its pre-booked trips.

After New York, Blacklane will roll out its chauffeur-hailing service in London, Dubai, Berlin, and Paris this week. All eight U.S. cities where Blacklane currently operates will go live by next week and all 21 cities will have launched by March 26th. The full city list includes Vienna, Frankfurt, Munich, Singapore, Lisbon, Boston, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Milan, Zurich, Washington D.C., and London, where the company will use electric Jaguar I-PACE and Tesla vehicles.

“People need trusted local transportation now more than ever as cities reopen,” says Dr. Jens Wohltorf, Blacklane’s CEO and co-founder. “Many companies have built ride-hailing platforms with little quality control and confusing costs. But Blacklane has built a global chauffeur-hailing service with clear, consistent rates and the highest quality standards.”

As with its scheduled rides, Blacklane partners with only the best local chauffeur companies. It continues its proven all-inclusive fares based only on distance. Guests do not pay extra for higher demand, traffic, or tolls, providing the same cost certainty for all types of trips.

The company’s carbon-neutral program extends to hailed chauffeur service. Blacklane was the first ground transportation company to offset carbon emissions from all rides and business operations worldwide, starting in 2017.

Private and business guests book on Blacklane’s iOS app. Chauffeurs clean and sanitize vehicles before and after each journey. They greet guests with a slight bow instead of a handshake, maintain maximum distance, and provide hand sanitizer and masks. Guests can call or chat with Blacklane’s 24/7 customer service team in the app.

Blacklane’s scheduled service continues as usual, with rides booked 30 minutes to months in advance on its website and apps. Guests can reserve private and sanitized door-to-door airport transfers, hourly rides, and intercity trips.

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The post Could This Be the Future of Flying? first appeared on The Art of Business Travel.

The IATA Travel Pass is designed to help travelers easily and securely manage their travel in line with any government requirements for Covid-19 testing or vaccine information. IATA prioritised three design elements for the app. These included top-level data privacy and security, with the app storing encrypted data that is then passed between traveller and airline or authority, with no central database or repository. In addition, meeting global standards recognised by governments was essential to ensure verified identity and test/vaccine information, and this is achieved through the use of government-issued ePassports to verify the identity of the user. Finally, the app’s integration into contactless travel processes.

To use the IATA Travel Pass, travellers simply download the app to their smartphone and log in. They will then be asked to take a selfie and complete a liveness test, moving their head or closing their eyes as directed by the app. Travellers then scan passport info into the app and the system matches photo with passport data to verify that the person is the owner of the passport and that the passport is a legitimate document. Finally, the verified digital travel credential is stored on the passenger’s phone and can be used as their ‘digital passport/ ID’.

The industry has been developing contactless travel processes as part of a One ID transformation program for several years. The IATA Travel Pass digital identity management module uses the well-developed principles of One ID (which are, in turn, based on ICAO standards). For the passenger, this means that the IATA Travel Pass will also unlock the potential for convenient contactless travel processes from check-in to boarding.  As such, while the need for COVID-19 information verification may eventually disappear when we overcome the pandemic, IATA Travel Pass, however, will remain a bold step forward in the implementation of contactless travel.

IATA research amid the Covid-19 crisis (September 2020) shows that contactless processes will be popular with travellers, 70 percent of whom had concerns about handing over their passport, phone, or boarding pass to airline agents, security staff, or government officials at the airport; and 85 percent of whom said that touchless processing throughout the airport would make them feel safer.

“Testing is the immediate solution to safely re-open borders and re-connect people, and eventually this is likely to transition to vaccination requirements,” says Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s Director General and CEO. “In either case, a secure system to manage Covid-19 testing or vaccination information is critical. The IATA Travel Pass is a solution that both travellers and governments can trust, and it is being built with data security, convenience, and verification as top priorities.”

IATA is developing the IATA Travel Pass in four independent modules that can interact with each other. These modules will cover registries for regulatory entry requirements and labs/test centers, verified certificate issuance, digital identity, and the possibility for passengers to share their test results along their journey via their mobile device. Open standards enable the modules to be used as one solution or to complement capabilities being developed by other solutions providers.

“We are building the IATA Travel Pass with one aim—to help reconnect our world safely,” says Nick Careen, IATA’s Senior Vice President, Airport, Passenger, Cargo, and Security. “IATA has brought advancements in global standards like e-ticketing and mobile boarding passes to consumers in all parts of the world. This unique capability demonstrates that we can work with industry and governments to re-shape travel processes based on global standards. We are confident that we can deliver a complete solution with IATA Travel Pass.”

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