Great Moments in Travel History – August 2021

by Jesse Sokolow

August, a holiday month for a good part of the world, is tied with July for the hottest month of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.
It is the eighth month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is named after Augustus, a Roman statesman who was the first ruler of the Roman Empire. The month was originally named Sextilis because it was the sixth month of …

Hotel Review: Canopy by Hilton Philadelphia Center City

by Jonathan Spira

Coordinating the opening of a hotel is a big deal no matter when it happens, but doing so in the midst of a raging pandemic is not only an achievement worthy of note but one fraught with some degree of peril.
The managers of the Canopy by Hilton Philadelphia Center City did just that and the hotel, located in the East Market development opened its doors to guests in August of …

Lucid Motors, Launching on Nasdaq, Changes Definition of Luxury EV

by Paul Riegler

Tesla competitor Lucid Motors celebrated its debut on the Nasdaq Monday with fanfare worthy of the best of television game shoes, including the appropriate amount of confetti for a company with a market value of roughly $43 billion that has yet to sell a single vehicle.
While there are many comparisons that have been made with Tesla – the company’s CEO Peter Rawlin led the development of the Tesla Model S …

Airlines, Once in Favor of a Mask Mandate, Are Over It

by Anna Breuer

Face masks are required on all public transit regardless of an individual’s vaccination status, but that could soon change.  With support of U.S. airlines and cabin crew, President Joseph Biden issued a mask mandate shortly after taking office that requires passengers on planes, trains, buses, and streetcars to don the face covering.
The masks limit the wearer’s exposure to respiratory droplets and large particles of the virus and may help prevent people …

Volkswagen Passat Reaches the End of the Road in the U.S.

by Kurt Stolz

Once upon a time, boys and girls, there was the Chevrolet Impala, the Buick Electra, the Ford Taurus, and even the Lincoln Continental. But car buyers began to reject sedans in favor of crossovers and gone were these models with the stroke of a pen, along with Acura RLX, the Cadillac CT6, the Jaguar XE, and, now, the Volkswagen Passat.
Volkswagen said Monday that 2022 will be the final year for …

25 Years Ago Today, TWA Flight 800 Exploded Over the Atlantic

by Anna Breuer

Twenty-five years ago, TWA Flight 800 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on July 17, 1996, 12 minutes after taking off from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. All 230 people onboard the Boeing 747-100 perished. The investigation revealed that a fuel tank explosion was the cause of the crash.
On Saturday, a private memorial service for the families of those lost on the flight is being held. The service will …

United Airlines CEO Doesn’t Expect Travel to Fully Recover Until 2023

by Kurt Stolz

Travel is not likely to return in full to pre-pandemic levels until at least 2023, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said in an interview on Sunday.
Speaking on the CBS news program “Face the Nation,” Kirby said that, given the pent-up demand for people to “connect with the world,” leisure travel has exceeded 100% of pre-pandemic levels, but the demand on the business side is still down by 60% as many …