Ep 63: The Challenges of Reconnecting the World, with Dirk Singer, SimpliFlying

Listen to this episode

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Google

Podbean

View All Episodes

About This Episode

1 Apr 2021 • 35m00s

This week’s episode takes on the complex task of reconnecting global air travel with Dirk Singer, Research Director of SimpliFlying, an aviation marketing and solutions firm founded by Canada-based Singaporean Shashank Nigam.

From his London base, Dirk discusses the white-hot aviation, airline, airport, travel and tourism issues that are confounding policymakers in Europe, North, Central and South America, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific.

Will vaccines eliminate the need for quarantines - and, if so, when? Can Green Zone travel actually work? How will vaccine passports be issued and accepted worldwide? What is a Vaccine Hierarchy and why does it matter? What are the specific challenges for intercontinental air hubs like Singapore, Hong Kong and Dubai? Will European borders reopen this summer? What is the 50:50 Trigger? And, will the lessons of COVID-19 enable airlines to future-proof themselves against ‘the next pandemic’?

Fascinating stuff.

Resources

SimpliFlying: https://simpliflying.com/

SimpliFlying’s COVID-19 Resource Hub: https://simpliflying.com/guidance-airlines-covid-19/

« Next Episode Ep 65: Phuket & Bali: Will They Both Reopen in July?, with Brett Henry, MG Group Previous Episode » Ep 63: Travel Bubbles Are Back! Or Are They?

View All Episodes

Latest Episodes Catch up with the pods you may have missed

Play

1 Oct 2026 • 30m38s

Ep 321: Tracking the Take-off of AI, Intelligent & Automated Technologies at South East Asian Airports

Digital Twins. Automated Ground Operations. Predictive Sustainability. Humanoid Robots. E-Gates. Urban Air Transport. Inter-modality. South East Asia’s air landscape is changing before our eyes, as air travel volumes increase and passenger expectations are constantly upgrading. These factors broaden the range of operational challenges for major hub airports, fast-growing airports in tier-two and tier-three cities and the new mega-airports opening from Singapore to the Philippines and Australia to Vietnam. Can AI and intelligent technologies improve the management of busier skies and more crowded departures and arrivals lounges without the need to build bigger terminals?

Play

29 Sep 2026 • 30m01s

Ep 320: Vietnam Leads on ASEAN Air Passenger Integration, Severe Weather Events Pummel Asia & Low-Key Chinese Golden Week Outlook

“If you go back three of four years, you’d have expected Singapore to take the lead on such a regionally important project - but now it’s Vietnam.” That seems significant. With three quarters of 2026 completed, pan-Asian air travel networks look rather different from the start of the year. The 9th month of the year, September, featured a raft of intriguing developments across South East Asia, plus China, Australia and Canada.