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Day: 25 March 2021

Princess’ foundation backs head injury campaign

by: Cassandra Tanti
25/03/2021

The Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation will be one of the key supporters of the Love of the Game 2021 Hakathon, a new campaign to find solutions to mitigate the risk of head injuries in sports.
Love of the Game is being led by its President Simon Shaw, MBE, a former English rugby player, and will run 26th to 28th March.
It seeks to unite the fields of sport, technology, science, academia and business to identify, invest and implement innovative solutions that will mitigate the health risks arising in sports, whether team or individual, contact or non-contact.
“As an organisation which champions sport in children’s lives, we are delighted to welcome the Princess Charlene of Monaco Foundation as a key supporter in our mission to protect the sports we love for our future athletes,” said Simon Shaw MBE, President of Love of the Game. “Sport has the power to bring people together, across all levels. Together we have an opportunity to make real, positive and long-lasting change that will protect the sports we love and the players of all ages who play them, without the fear of sustaining potentially damaging head injuries. We look forward to working together and developing solutions that will enable everyone to fulfil their sporting dreams.”
The Hakathon aims to bring the brightest minds across the design (both user experience and product), developer and engineering worlds together with amateur and professional sports people, academics and researchers in the sport health fields, to create solutions that prevent, diagnose and treat head injuries and concussion within sports.
During the virtual two and a half day event, Hakathon participants will connect with and form cross-disciplinary teams, combining their knowledge to create innovations that have real-world applications that will improve the lives of those that love and play sports.
Monaco Life with press release. Photo by Quino Al on Unsplash
 
 
 
 

Nice airport turnover halved in pandemic year

by: Stephanie Horsman
25/03/2021

French Riviera airports suffered losses of €132 million in 2020 after accommodating only a quarter of their normal international flights due to the global pandemic.
Airports of the Côte d’Azur, of which Nice Côte d’Azur is the largest, revealed on Thursday a “very significant” 55% decrease in turnover in 2020, totalling €132 million. The dramatic losses came amidst the Covid pandemic and the accompanying travel restrictions which saw a 50.9% drop in domestic passenger flights and a massive 77.7% reduction in international flights.
From March of last year, the airport group responded to the crisis and was able to keep all three airports under its umbrella fully operational – Nice Côte d’Azur, Golfe Saint-Tropez and Cannes Mandelieu. The company was able to do this through some fiscal cuts that included partial furloughs followed by a long-term reduced activity agreement with unions as well as an agreement from shareholders to waive dividends from the 2019 fiscal year.
But despite the cuts, the group suffered significant losses.
“Of course, the group’s financial results are clearly not great, but without the commitment and the sense of responsibility shown by our colleagues, they could have been much worse,” said Franck Goldnadel, Chairman of the Board of Aéroports de la Côte d’Azur. “This feeling of belonging to a group is one of our main markers, and it’s one of the key factors that explains how, despite the stormy circumstances, we have been able to keep up with our investments in infrastructure maintenance, safety and security, and our environment strategy.”
In addition to the revenue losses, the airports incurred several unexpected costs, primarily those involving the implementation of new public health systems to ensure passenger safety, as well as the need to comply with the latest regulations passed down from the government.
This was coupled with investments made in environmental protections as part of the company’s overall plan to reduce carbon emissions to zero by 2030.
“While the group has survived the unprecedented crisis of 2020, and is to continue in its work in 2021, our responsibility towards the region, in our capacity as airport managers, is to do our best to ensure that our commitments to protecting and respecting the environment are not compromised, at any cost. We consider ourselves to be the airport of the future and in this light, we must be role models in our sector and do all we can to delineate and embody this model: that of a high-performance airport, one that is safe and carbon-neutral by 2030,” added the chairman.
 
 
 

Monaco is officially a “sister” of Dolceacqua

by: Stephanie Horsman
25/03/2021

The Municipal Council of Monaco voted unanimously this week to officially twin with the charming Italian mountain village of Dolceacqua.

It solidifies a long-standing and historical relationship between the municipalities and was done according to the wishes of both Monaco Mayor Georges Marsan and Dolceacqua Mayor Fulvio Gazzola.

The plans for twinning date back to 3rd November 2020 when a delegation from the Italian village visited the Principality and a joint letter of intent was sent to Prince Albert II to ask his permission. Two days later, the Prince approved the initiative and plans to make the twinning official were underway.

In recent years, the two municipalities have fostered the bonds that tie them both geographically and historically. Doria Castle in Dolceacqua renamed a reception room as the Doria-Grimaldi Room, for example. There was also an exhibition in the Sainte Dévote Church displaying Antoine Bréa’s 1517 triptych and where the title of “Honorary Citizen” was conferred by the Municipality of Dolceacqua on HSH Prince Albert II.

“The twinning will have the mission of strengthening solidarity, fraternal and privileged links while promoting exchanges in fields as varied as heritage, culture and art, tourism and gastronomy as well as sport through associative support,” said the Mairie in a statement. “Initiatives in the fields of the environment, sustainable development and climate change will be encouraged, as will cooperation in the teaching of vernacular languages.”

After the necessary paperwork to finalise the “sister” cities is completed, a celebration will be held and is currently set for 3rd November 2023. The date is significant in that 3rd November is also the same day as the swearing-in of the trustees of Dolceacqua, Apricale, Isolabona and Perinaldo in Monaco in 1523. The ceremony was held in the Orange Garden of the Grimaldi Palace with Augustin Grimaldi, Bishop of Grasse and Lord of Monaco in attendance.

Monaco is also twinned with two other cities: Lucciana, Corsica since 2009 and Ostend, Belgium since 1958.

 

Airline industry experts to unite in Monaco

by: Stephanie Horsman
25/03/2021

The forceful impact of the global pandemic on airline travel will be a hot topic at this year’s World Connect airline conference, set to be held at the Monte-Carlo Bay Hotel and Resort later this year.

It was announced this week that the 12th APG’s World Connect airline conference will be held in Monaco this year from 27th to 29th October.

Jean Louis Baroux President of APG World Connect was delighted to share the good news, saying, “It is in a context of an extremely complicated health crisis for the world economy, and in particular for air transport, that we are very happy to announce the next APG World Connect at the end of October 2021 in Monaco.”

World Connect is the premiere airline distribution conference in the industry. Attended by almost 500 senior representatives from the airline industry including around 100 senior airline managers, representatives of global travel groups as well as many other senior representatives from different sectors of the aviation, the conference will take stock of the current global air travel situation.

Speakers will be gathering to talk about the industry in general, but primarily to talk about the impact the global pandemic has had on air travel.

“It will be slow and difficult, but I am sure it will rise from the ashes,” an optimistic Baroux said. “The theme chosen this year is the reconquest of our industry. To restore air transport to its fair value, to explain that the airplane is useful economically, socially, and humanely.”

Speakers will include heavyweights such as Tewolde Gebremariam, President of Ethiopian Airlines and Patrick Ky CEO of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency.

 

 

Monaco Open Padel Tournament coming in April

by: Stephanie Horsman
25/03/2021

After two major tournaments in Paraguay, the ATP Padel Tour is arriving in Europe with Monaco as the first stop.
The ATP Padel Tour is coming to the Principality from 5th to 11th April in an open tournament being played at Tennis Padel Soleil in Beausoleil. The circuit is a newcomer to the professional sports world and, as such, this is the first tournament in Europe. Monaco was honoured to be selected for the inaugural event on the continent.
Top players from around the globe will participate including the winners of the Paraguay Masters, top seeded team Gonzolo Alfonso and Federico Chiostri. The French will be heavily represented by Jérémy Ritz and Jean-Michel Pequery, Jérôme Inzerillo and Florian Valsot and Max Moreau and Julien Toniutti.
Some €35,000 in prize money will be distributed to the winners of the event.
“This will be a great opportunity to see new faces in action on the circuit, since several duos from different European countries have already confirmed their participation in the third test of our calendar,” ATP Padel Tour organisers said.
The event will follow the strictest health protocols in line with national regulations. As such, it will not be open to the public and must be played behind closed doors.
After Monaco, the tour moves onto Liege Belgium where a new ladies circuit will be included in the line-up.
 
Photo by ATP Padel Tour