Operational Readiness
at a Global Scale

A Student presented a severe pain in the front part of her head  that was increasing with the hours. She also presented nausea and vomiting before taking a flight from Bogota to Cartagena. She was taken to the Sanity Unit at the Airport in Bogota and after some exams, she was sent by ambulance to the nearby hospital. At the hospital, it was determined that she had blood clots close to the neck and the head.

Austral Group canceled her trip to Cartagena, and immediately provided support, and took her to the ER at the airport. Then Austral Group staff took turns accompanying  the student during her entire hospitalization, to keep her company, and to assist her with translation services until her father arrived.

A university had to switch destinations from Asia to Latam with short notice, and then from in-person to online due to Covid.

When the University had to switch from a Hong Kong to a Latin America destination due to social unrest, Austral Group quickly began putting together their trip to Panama, also a port city, with little over a month to go. Going to a port city was important as students were working on a consulting project back home for the Port of Vancouver. While planning for the in-person trip, the Covid-19 outbreak began and a fully online itinerary was planned and successfully delivered within a couple of weeks’ notice.

A university traveled to Chile with more than 120 students for a 9-days trip to work on several consulting projects. On the second day of the program, several protests broke out in Santiago and other parts of the country due to an increase in the subway’s price. On the third day, total chaos had emerged in the country, with more than 20 subway stations being burned and numerous acts of looting and vandalism happening in various cities of the country. A state of emergency was initiated by the government allowing the military to enter into action. Curfew was instituted for several weeks after.

With an already large team, more than 20 program coordinators were already involved due to the consulting projects, Austral was more than prepared to assist the university to continue with the program. Several students decided to fly back early, and while Austral did not take care of flights for this group, our ATS team provided any assistance necessary to ease the process for the students.For students that decided to continue with the program, and taking into consideration the city’s main points of protests, severa logistical modifications were made in order to assure the safety of all involved. Austral facilitated water and food and other essential goods required by students in an attempt to avoid them heading to supermarkets, which were the main points of looting. We continuously provided updates regarding current events in an attempt to clarify what real risks were happening and provided control measures on how to avoid increasing potential exposure. Consulting companies were contacted and student meetings were adjusted in order to allow students to fly back early when requested or to avoid heading to problematic areas of the city.

Massive earthquake disrupts study trips in ChileA massive 8.8 earthquake struck 260 miles south of Santiago, Chile at 3:34 am on February 27, 2010 with intense shaking in Santiago lasting nearly 3 minutes. Communications infrastructure in Chile was widely affected, although damage to buildings and other infrastructure in Santiago was minimal. The Santiago airport was affected and closed. 52 MBA and EMBA students were on flights en route to Santiago when the quake hit and their planes were re-routed to 5 different airports across the Americas. 9 MBA students were already in Santiago about to start their international experience.

Despite most communications systems being out and information scarce, Austral Group managed to contact all relevant University officials who were located across the Globe to inform them of the situation on the ground.  We identified and contacted all re-routed and stranded students who were located in Santiago, Lima, Mendoza, Rio de Janeiro, Dallas, and Atlanta.  Everyone was safe, although a bit shaken up. With worried parents and university officials frantically and unsuccessfully trying to contact the students, Austral Group responded by uploading an informative website within hours after the earthquake and utilized Austral Group’s Twitter account and other social media to open up conversation lines and keep everyone informed of events on-the-ground in real-time.  Austral Group staff quickly went to work to resolve logistics issues and make itinerary changes for all groups that were affected by the quake.

Ash cloud causes cancellation of group flightsAir currents circulating ash spewed from an active volcano in southern Chile caused unpredictable flight delays and cancellations, causing disruptions that changed on a daily and even hourly basis over the course of several months in Argentina, Brazil and Chile. The first flight cancellation caused a program to cancel the 2nd destination in their itinerary.

With half of the itinerary unexpectedly canceled, Austral Group acted fast to pull together several meetings with executives within hours of the canceled flight. Our Logistics team was able to secure 100% no-show reimbursements from our providers negating any potential loss of trip funds. Our Programming team created contingency itineraries that were quickly implemented when subsequent delays and cancellations disrupted scheduled programs.

On the last day of a program taking place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a student decided to go to the beach and take a swim. She decided to leave her bag unattended on the sand. When she returned, it had been stolen. She lost her phone, credit cards, and passport. The group was taking a flight late that evening and she no longer had any documentation to be able to fly.

An Austral Group staff member contacted the Canadian Embassy, explained the situation, and accompanied her to the Embassy, where they were able to get her an emergency passport on the same day. She even was able to make it to the airport on time to take the group flight.

Zika outbreak in Latin America
In February 2016 the World Health Organization declared the Zika outbreak to be a “public-health emergency of international concern”, and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Level 2 travel alert for individuals traveling to affected countries where Zika virus transmission is ongoing, including Brazil, Colombia and Panama. While much is still to be learned about Zika and its correlation with neurological disorders and birth defects, travel for pregnant women to affected areas has been advised against, and women trying to get pregnant should consult with an international travel healthcare provider.

Our Risk Management team proactively reached out to travelers with upcoming trips to Brazil and Colombia to share detailed information about the ongoing situation, including Austral Group’s on-the-ground perspective on the outbreak, taking measures to re-route travelers to destinations not affected by the outbreak. Following the CDC announcement, Austral Group offered full refunds to travelers not comfortable traveling to Zika-impacted areas. Many travelers chose to remain with their original plans and to take additional precautions based on the information provided.