Delta Air Lines

• Joby Aviation, Inc. (NYSE:JOBY), a company developing all-electric aircraft for commercial passenger service, today announced it has signed a definitive agreement with Dubai’s Road and Transport Authority (RTA) to launch air taxi services in the Emirate by early 2026, with Joby targeting initial operations as early as 2025.
• View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240211538091/en/
  Joby’s electric air taxi on display at the World Governments Summit in Dubai.
• RTA, Skyports and Joby have worked together to identify Dubai International Airport (DXB), Palm Jumeirah, Dubai Marina and Dubai Downtown as the launch locations for Dubai’s air taxi service.
• Media assets, including photos and footage of Joby’s aircraft, animations of anticipated Dubai air taxi routes and renders of Dubai skyport designs, are available here .

• PALO ALTO, Calif., Feb. 8, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Altamont Capital Partners (Altamont) today announced that Billy Medof has joined the firm as an Operating Partner.
• In his new role, Billy will accelerate Altamont's investment thesis within the corrugated packaging industry, drawing on his nearly 20 years of executive leadership experience in the industry.
• Billy's industry expertise will allow Altamont to dedicate new focus and capabilities to the pursuit of partnerships in a growing and sustainable industry.
• "I'm looking forward to working closely with Altamont as they continue building world-class businesses, particularly within the corrugated packaging market," said Billy.

• National CineMedia (NCM), the US Representative for the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and the largest cinema advertising platform in the country, announces Gold House , the leading cultural ecosystem that unites, invests in, and champions Asian Pacific creators and companies, as the official non-profit partner for the 2024 US Young Lions competition.
• Gold House is featured in the 2024 Young Lions competition brief which is available to young professionals born on or after June 21, 1993, who registered in one of the following categories: Digital, Film, Media, PR and Print.
• The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), the digital media and marketing trade association, is now the Official Young Lions Jury Networking Partner.
• For more information about the Cannes Lions Young Lions competition, go to: https://www.ncm.com/cannes-lions

After the murder of George Floyd in 2020, when travel brands – including Delta Air Lines, Hilton and Enterprise – pronounced their support for diversity and the Black Lives Matter movement, our research group was motivated to conduct a study that collected data of the travel experiences of more than 5,000 Black people and people of color. Our work, published in Afar magazine and Tourism Geographies, found that Black travelers expressed dissatisfaction with how the travel industry promotes itself as inclusive.

Authenticity matters

• We conducted in-depth interviews with several of the people who provided data to us.
• Those we interviewed told us plainly that they are weary of being perceived as a single, uniform entity.
• Joshlyn Crystal Adams, CEO of Urbanista Travel, told us, “It’s definitely more than being Black.
• But the people in our study emphasized the need for brands and destinations to make a greater effort.

Diversity is not a box to check

• In the Jim Crow era, Black travelers were regularly denied access to crucial services such as gas, food, restrooms and lodging.
• Stopping in unfamiliar locations posed the threat of humiliation, threats or worse.
• “If companies want to understand how to be appeasing to our communities, they should go directly to us,” study participant and AfroBuenaventura Transformative Travel founder Ronnell Perry said.

Change the industry from within

• Black individuals hold fewer than 1% of top leadership roles – C-suite, director, CEO/president – in the U.S. hospitality industry, according to a report by Castell Project.
• Over the past decade, consultancies such as McKinsey have made it increasingly clear that companies with more diverse workforces perform better financially.
• However, change requires taking power from the hands of dominant white, heterosexual, nondisabled and first-world nation groups.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.