Results at a glance
- Successful relocations completed in 7 countries.
- Co-ordination and support for additional personnel movements.
- Continuous monitoring of border closures, entry restrictions and flight schedule reductions to support risk analysis and forward planning efforts.
The challenge
As the pandemic was spreading globally with an increasing number of countries ‘locked down’, a global energy company engaged with CWT to assist with the relocation of more than 500 travelers in Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Thailand and Venezuela. Around 20 destination countries were requested, with the relocation of employees required within 72 hours. This request came at a time when only 10% of global flight schedules were in operation.
The client also required an ongoing review of the impacts the situation had on a traveler’s journey. This included daily updates to country entry restrictions for foreign citizens, closure of country borders, flight schedule cancelations, airport and country transit restrictions and liaison with key airline suppliers around their efforts to support social distancing. Employees also needed hotel accommodation, car hire and chauffeur services arranged upon arrival in their destination country.
The solution
A cross-functional team was created consisting of Client Executives and Global Program Delivery Managers, and supported by a Global Customer Director. Traveler Experience teams were mobilized in South Korea, Canada, UK, Philippines and Kazakhstan. The project team organized daily calls to report progress and any challenges or roadblocks. CWT took care of the itineraries, e-ticket confirmation, hotel accommodation and chauffeur services. And made sure that all employees received emergency contact details for support en-route. CWT agents closely monitored the ‘Flight Status’ in case of cancelation or to re-route at connection points.
The result
CWT’s cross-functional team went over and above to successfully complete the relocation of employees in 7 countries, using a combination of commercial flights and charter operations. Ongoing co-ordination and support for additional personnel movements continued over the following weeks.
Continuous monitoring of border closures, entry restrictions and flight schedule reductions to support risk analysis and forward planning efforts to the company’s travel team was also supplied.