Cars which find their own parking spaces and trams which report their own faults are just some of the futuristic transport systems being developed under a new agreement.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) will see Transport for West Midlands (TfWM), West Midlands 5G (WM5G) and Vodafone work together to improve the way we travel around the region.

5G innovation will also play a key role in the region’s post coronavirus economic recovery plan, driving investment and delivering new jobs. The partnership is already in discussion regarding projects where 5G can potentially improve transport and support congestion and emissions reductions.

The agreement, signed by the Mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street on behalf of TfWM and Director of Vodafone Business Anne Sheehan, will see the partners share information and expertise and develop cutting-edge transport systems and technology using the region’s growing 5G mobile network.

Two 5G mobility projects already under development and led by WM5G are:

• The Kerbside Parking Availability Trial: The West Midlands is the first region in the UK to trial the concept of 5G-enabled identification of live kerbside parking availability. With the support of parking technology provider AppyWay, a series of trials took place in Sparkhill. The demonstration saw a live HD street scan being captured from a vehicle travelling an agreed section of roadway. The footage was transmitted and processed via 5G networks to confirm parking availability in real-time to the AppyParking app. By unlocking real-time availability parking data to drivers journey times, the flow of traffic and emissions levels can be improved. This will reduce congestion, improve air quality within urban environments, and make it more accessible for visitors to access our city centres and local highstreets. 

• Connected tram trial: 5G is also proving to be an enabler on public transport. WM5G has been working with GoMedia – a leading infotainment provider – on some more practical solutions for the region’s tram network. By plugging CCTV systems into a 5G network, hi-resolution video footage can be monitored in real-time far more efficiently. In a world of social distancing, this can help transport operators determined the effectiveness of public safety measures on their services. Here 5G is enabling an intervention without the need for draconian measures to ensure public health and safety.  The footage is captured and monitored at secure locations, protecting not only the safety of the network’s passengers but also their privacy. The same principles can be replicated outside of the carriage and at our stops and stations, enabling safeguarding at a safe, social distance and controlling the number of passengers.

Mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street said: “We have seen how vital good connectivity is during this pandemic, not only keeping many businesses going, but keeping friends and families connected.

“That is why I want the West Midlands to be at the forefront of 5G, using the technology to find new ways of working, travelling and staying connected. And when it comes to travel we are not just investing billions in rail, trams and bus technology, but, through our Future Transport Zone and 5G Testbed, we are looking to lead the way on developing the transport systems of the future.

“It’s exciting to think about what we can achieve in this area moving forward, and I am delighted we have been able to sign this new partnership with Vodafone.”

Director of Vodafone Business, Anne Sheehan, commented, “We’re hugely excited to be working on such innovative projects here in the West Midlands. We believe 5G has the potential to revolutionise transport. Its ultra-high bandwidth and low latency are perfect for real-time interactions that will underpin solutions to some of the biggest transport issues we face today, such as congestion and emission levels.  It’s fantastic to be able to explore such solutions as part of the 5G Testbed and give the West Midlands the opportunity to become a global leader in this space.”

Cllr Ian Ward, Birmingham City Council leader and WMCA portfolio holder for transport said: “These projects show how we can harness cutting edge technology to make travel around the West Midlands easier, faster and more convenient. Whether it is improving safety on the Metro network or cutting the numbers of motorists circulating our cities searching for parking spaces.

“We are developing the next generation of transport systems through the Future Transport Zone and 5G testbed as we look to tackle the problems of climate change, pollution and traffic congestion and build our economy following the lockdown.”

TfWM, which is part of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), was awarded £22 million Future Transport Zone funding to work with universities and industry on exciting new technologies that can place the West Midlands at the heart of the next transport revolution.

West Midlands 5G Testbed has been set up by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and WMCA to accelerate the deployment of 5G networks and to develop new 5G services across the region.

The MOU allows collaboration on systems which help improve air quality, reduce congestion, accelerate connected and autonomous vehicle technology, provide public health benefits and help the WMCA and TfWM achieve its aim of building a healthier, happier, better connected and more prosperous West Midlands.

Qatar Airways becomes largest carrier operating over 15,000 flights to take 1.8 million people home
 
The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for the global aviation industry. Qatar Airways has led the industry during these challenging times taking people home safely and reliably on more flights to more destinations than any other airline, becoming the largest airline in the world over the past three months. These efforts have established the carrier as the airline passengers, governments and industry partners can rely on and trust.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said: “During this crisis more passengers have chosen to fly with Qatar Airways than any other airline, and we appreciate the trust they have placed in us. We have become the largest global carrier flying over 50 million kilometres to repatriate over 1.8 million passengers on over 15,000 flights.

This has enabled us to accumulate unrivalled experience of how to safely and reliably carry passengers during these uncertain times.

“Our wide network of flights during this period has ensured we have kept up to date with the latest in international airport procedures and implemented the most advanced safety and hygiene measures on board our aircraft and in our award winning home and hub, Hamad International Airport, recently voted the Best Airport in the Middle East for the sixth consecutive year. This is why more people rely on us for international travel than any other airline during this crisis and why we will continue to ensure the safest and most reliable experience for our passengers as we resume flights to more destinations over the summer.

“Qatar Airways is a carrier that has been recognised as the World’s Best Airline on five occasions by Skytrax, built significant goodwill with governments and embassies as we assisted stranded citizens and most importantly, been available non-stop for stranded passengers during the pandemic. We have been here 24/7 during the darkest days and will continue to be a friend in need as confidence returns and people restart their travel plans.”

Passenger and Cargo Operations

While many airlines have been forced or chosen to suspend operations, Qatar Airways has maintained a robust and agile network helping to take over 1.8 million passengers home.

The airline has also worked closely with governments, and companies around the world to operate over 220 charters and extra sector flights helping reunite over 62,000 people with their loved ones. As the global recovery from COVID-19 begins, the airline recently announced plans to gradually rebuild its network in line with passenger demand evolution and the expected relaxation of entry restrictions around the world. By the end of June, the airline plans to expand its network to 80* destinations with more to be added by the end of the Summer Season.

To ensure travellers can plan their travel with peace of mind, the airline has extended its booking policies to offer even more choice to its passengers. The airline will allow unlimited date changes, and passengers can change their destination as often as they need if it is within 5,000 miles of the original destination.

The airline’s cargo division has significantly increased operations to support global trade and the transport of essential medical and aid supplies to impacted regions. The air freight carrier has further established itself as the industry leader operating around 180 flights per day, utilising passenger aircraft to carry freight-only in addition to the airline’s fleet of 28 freighters. Working closely with governments and NGOs around the globe, Qatar Airways Cargo has transported over 175,000 tonnes of medical and aid supplies to impacted regions, the equivalent of roughly 1,750 fully loaded Boeing 777 freighters.

These unprecedented times have seen the airline operate services to many destinations for the first time, helping repatriate stranded travellers and deliver essential supplies to where they are needed. Some of the new destinations Qatar Airways has touched down in during this period include Brisbane, Christchurch, Port Moresby, Toronto, and Vancouver for passenger flights and Perth, Valencia, and Warsaw for freighter flights.

Safeguarding our passengers and staff

Qatar Airways has further enhanced its onboard safety measures for passengers and cabin crew. The airline has implemented several changes, including the introduction of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) suits for cabin crew while onboard, as well as a modified service that reduces interactions between the passengers and the crew inflight.

Cabin crew have already been wearing PPE suits during flights for a number of weeks in addition to safety goggles, gloves and a mask to provide even greater reassurance to customers in addition to enhanced hygienic measures already in place. The airline now requires passengers to wear face coverings inflight and recommends people bring their own for fit and comfort purposes.

Passengers flying Business Class on Qsuite equipped aircraft can avail of the enhanced privacy this award-winning suite provides, including sliding privacy partitions and fully closing doors that create a private sanctuary. Passengers can also opt to use the ‘Do Not Disturb (DND)’ indicator in their private suite, if they wish to limit their interactions with the cabin crew. Qsuite continues to be available on flights to more than 30 destinations including London, Sydney, Singapore and Dallas Fort Worth with plans to add it more routes throughout the summer.

As an airline, Qatar Airways maintains the highest possible hygiene standards, which include the regular disinfection of aircraft, the use of cleaning products recommended by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the World Health Organization (WHO), and thermal screening of crew.
In addition, Qatar Airways’ aircraft feature the most advanced air filtration systems, equipped with industrial-size HEPA filters that remove 99.97% of viral and bacterial contaminants from re-circulated air, providing the most effective protection against infection.

Hamad International Airport

Hamad International Airport (HIA) is also robustly minimising any risks to the health and safety of passengers and staff. As a vital pillar to Qatar’s national economy, HIA’s doors remain open as it continues its operations to take people home, and ensure food security for the State of Qatar through air cargo.

HIA has implemented stringent cleaning procedures and closed most of the non-essential passenger facilities. The airport is implementing innovative solutions to maintain the highest levels of hygiene including the use of disinfection robots, advanced thermal temperature screening, and ultraviolet luggage disinfection. All passenger touchpoints are sanitized every 10-15 minutes and every boarding gate and bus gate counter is cleaned after each flight.

Staff working at the airport have been provided additional training in terms of protecting themselves and others in light of the current situation and implementing the highest health and safety measurements. In addition, hand sanitizers are provided at immigration and security screening points. A social distancing policy has been implemented at the airport, and staff wear masks and disposable gloves to protect them from any infection. All staff are briefed to change their masks in line with WHO recommendations.

HIA was recently ranked “Third Best Airport in the World”, among 550 airports worldwide, by the SKYTRAX World Airport Awards 2020. Rising from fourth position in 2019 to third in 2020, HIA has been steadily rising in the ‘World's Best Airports’ rankings since the start of its operations in 2014. In addition, HIA was voted the ‘Best Airport in the Middle East’ for the sixth year in a row and ‘Best Staff Service in the Middle East’ for the fifth year in a row.

The recently announced expansion of HIA will increase the airport’s capacity to more than 53 million passengers annually by 2022, further positioning as the airport of choice in the region for savvy international travellers. The terminal building will be the first airport in the MENA region to achieve a 4-star Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS) rating, which is the first performance-based system in the MENA region, developed for rating the green buildings and infrastructures. The terminal will also be a LEED Silver certified building with innovative measures of energy efficiency across the entire building.

*Subject to regulatory approval

CrossCountry have released a statement regarding train travel in the coming weeks.

“The Government's advice is to not travel by train unless absolutely necessary. However, as more people begin returning to work over the coming weeks, we need to ensure our timetable and services can support this expected increase. We do ask that you travel in an alternative way if this is available to you. This means we can keep our trains clear for those who really need them.

“From Monday 6 July, we will run an amended timetable, with added time provided at certain stations to give you enough time to board and alight safely. We’ve also added more carriages to help maintain social distancing on-board where possible.

The timetable changes affect the following routes:

• Manchester Piccadilly to Reading
• Bristol Temple Meads to Newcastle
• Birmingham New Street to Leicester
• Nottingham to Birmingham New Street

As part of this timetable change, we will reduce or remove stops at some stations, which are all detailed on our website. We advise that you check your journey before you travel.  “

Airline will operate three-weekly flights to Venice, starting 15 July 2020

Flights to Dublin, Milan and Rome will increase to daily services from 13 June 2020

DOHA, Qatar – Qatar Airways is pleased to announce the airline will be resuming services to Venice, Italy starting from 15 July 2020. The popular tourist destination and major arts and cultural centre will become the airline’s third destination in Italy to resume flights, marking a significant step in the resumption of global leisure travel.

The national carrier of the State of Qatar will also increase flights to Dublin, Milan and Rome, with daily services starting from 13 June 2020. As one of the only global airlines to have maintained a significant schedule throughout this crisis, Qatar Airways is uniquely positioned to monitor trends in traffic flow and passenger bookings. The airline expects these additional flights to provide further seamless connectivity via its award-winning hub, Hamad International Airport, with its Asia-Pacific destinations, in particular Australia where the airline continues to operate 21 weekly flights to Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker said: “We are excited to resume services to Venice, one of the most iconic and popular tourist destinations in the world. Throughout this crisis, our focus has been on helping to take people home and transporting medical aid and essential supplies to impacted regions. The resumption of services to Venice is a major milestone not just for our airline but also for the global tourism industry, indicating the start of the gradual return of international leisure travel. We look forward to supporting the many businesses in Venice that rely on international tourism and expanding these flights as demand grows.

“During this crisis, we have become the largest carrier flying over 50 million kilometres to repatriate over 1.8 million passengers on over 15,000 flights. This has enabled us to accumulate unrivalled experience of how to safely and reliably carry passengers during these uncertain times. Our wide network of flights during these challenging times has ensured we have kept up to date with the latest in international airport procedures and implemented the most advanced safety & hygiene measures on board our aircraft and in Hamad International Airport, recently voted the Best Airport in the Middle East for the sixth year in a row. We have been the airline passengers can rely on during this crisis and we will continue to ensure the safest and most reliable experience for our passengers as global travel recovers.”

Qatar Airways three-weekly flights to Venice will be operated by its state-of-the-art Boeing 787 Dreamliner, featuring 22 seats in Business Class and 232 Seats in Economy class. The airline has further enhanced its onboard safety measures for passengers and cabin crew. The airline is implementing several changes, including the introduction of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) suits for cabin crew while onboard, as well as a modified service that reduces interactions between the passengers and the crew inflight. Cabin crew have already been wearing PPE during flights for a number of weeks, including gloves and face masks. Passengers will also be required to wear face coverings inflight, with the carrier recommending travellers bring their own for fit and comfort purposes.

To ensure travellers can plan their travel with peace of mind, the airline has extended its booking policies to offer even more choice to its passengers. The airline will allow unlimited date changes, and passengers can change their destination as often as they need if it is within 5,000 miles of the original destination. The airline will not charge any fare differences for travel completed before 31 December 2020, after which fare rules will apply. All tickets booked for travel up to 31 December 2020 will be valid for two years from the date of issuance. For full terms and conditions visit www.qatarairways.com/RelyOnUs.

Flight Schedule:

Monday, Wednesday and Friday

Doha (DOH) to Venice (VCE) QR125 departs: 08:20 arrives 13:15

Venice (VCE) to Doha (DOH) QR126 departs: 16:05 arrives 22:30

The national carrier of the State of Qatar has built a strong level of trust with passengers, governments, trade and airports  as a reliable partner during this crisis. With its plans for expanding its network and strengthening airline partnerships, the airline is well positioned to continue delivering on its mission to be the airline travellers can trust.

UK holidaymakers are expected to be allowed to travel to Spain, France and Greece this summer after ministers confirmed people returning from certain countries will not have to quarantine.

The rules will be relaxed on 6 July after a review of health measures.

The full list of travel corridors with the UK will be published next week.
Italy, the Netherlands, Finland, Belgium, Turkey, Germany and Norway are also expected to feature but it is thought Portugal and Sweden will not.

A government spokesman said the new rules would give people "the opportunity for a summer holiday abroad" while also boosting the UK economy - but stressed the relaxation depended on risks staying low.

Portugal has seen a rise in the number of new cases in and around Lisbon recently, while Sweden is also unlikely to be on the list because the infection rate there is higher than in the UK.

But the government spokesman conceded there would be nothing to stop someone avoiding quarantine by flying into a Spanish airport, driving over the border into Portugal for their holiday and returning by the same route.

The travel sector has gone to war with the government over its blanket quarantine policy.

So a more nuanced, risk-based approach will quieten the critics to some extent.

But the storm of controversy swirling around this policy won't completely go away.
Portugal, which will probably not be on next week's list of exemptions, feels hard done-by.
The country is desperate that UK tourists return.

And although in public health terms the US is not currently close to being on the list, it does potentially present a tricky diplomatic dynamic, given the normally cosy relationship between Washington and London.

And the transatlantic flight market is lucrative too.

This announcement is a step in the right direction for UK aviation, but they want testing at airports to also provide another way for passengers to be exempt. So far, in public, the government has said very little about that.

Last week, one of the UK's largest aviation firms, Swissport, said it wanted to begin testing passengers for Covid-19 at a major UK airport.

However, the government has not indicated whether it is willing to allow passengers travelling from at-risk countries who test negative to be exempt from quarantine.

UK travellers will still have to hand over the address they plan to stay at on their return from abroad, no matter which country they are coming back from.

Travel industry group ABTA described the relaxation of quarantine rules as "encouraging".

"Confirmation of the list of countries is eagerly anticipated by the travel industry, and should encourage customers to book," it said in a statement.

"The blanket Foreign Office advice against all but essential travel is still a major impediment to travel, however, and we look forward to the government adopting a similar risk-based approach to that advice."

The UK introduced rules requiring all people arriving in the UK to self-isolate for 14 days on 8 June. It was widely criticised by the travel industry and MPs of all parties.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said the laws were designed "to prevent a second wave" of coronavirus.

On 17 March, the Foreign Office issued a global advisory against all but essential international travel.

For some countries this will now be eased. However, travel advice will be reviewed separately from decisions on travel corridors.

"Our public health measures at the border were put in place to manage the risk of imported cases and help prevent a second wave of the virus, and will continue to support our fight against coronavirus," said a government spokesman.

"Our new risk-assessment system will enable us to carefully open a number of safe travel routes around the world - giving people the opportunity for a summer holiday abroad and boosting the UK economy through tourism and business.

"But we will not hesitate to put on the brakes if any risks re-emerge, and this system will enable us to take swift action to re-introduce self-isolation measures if new outbreaks occur overseas."

Leading river cruise operator, Scylla, has announced the sailing of 34 ships on Europe’s waterways with immediate effect – becoming one of the first companies to resume operations after Covid-19. The Swiss operator runs a fleet of riverboats for various European charter clients.
 
“We are very pleased that the industry is slowly recovering from the coronavirus crisis and that our riverboats can now be put back on Europe’s waterways, where they belong,” says Arno Reitsma, CEO of Scylla AG (pictured). “Guests will once again be able to enjoy some of the most exciting river cruises on Europe’s beautiful waterways, even though travel itself is now slightly different,” Mr Reitsma adds.
 
“It goes without saying that all necessary safety, security and hygiene standards have been implemented on board all our ships,” Mr Reitsma explains. One of these measures will be to maintain a safe distance during the entire time on board – only registered passengers who have previously undergone a health check will be allowed on the ship.
 
Fewer passengers on the ships, compulsory facemasks, regular disinfections and bringing meals and drinks directly to the table are also part of the new measures. In addition, a doctor will also be on board for health checks and consultations for all guests and crewmembers. "Travel has changed but passengers on our ships will still be able to enjoy our river cruises," Mr Reitsma says.
 
Scylla will start sailing on a selection of European waterways and the newly added “mini-cruises” (shorter cruises) are proving to be very popular, with strong forward bookings.