Week in Review

Airbnb wants to give its host the opportunity to own a piece of the company, TechCrunch reports. The home-sharing company is attempting to change the SEC’s Rule 701, which governs ownership of equity in companies.

The UK government warns of flight disruptions in the case of a no-deal Brexit, Skift writes. If the EU doesn’t grant reciprocal approvals to its planes and airlines, flights may be grounded.

According to CNN, Hong Kong launched a new high-speed rail link to mainland China on Sunday. The $10.75 billion dollar project is controversial because it allows mainland immigration officers to enforce Chinese law on Hong Kong soil.

In other high-speed rail news, Al Jazeera notes Saudi Arabia launched a high-speed railway on Tuesday that connects holy cities Mecca and Medina.

According to USA TODAY, Southwest Airlines has begun rolling out complimentary in-flight messaging on select flights.

On this week’s podcast, we talk business travel payment trends. Airplus’ Kathy Cantwell and GBTA Senior Research Analyst Mark Sharoff talk through key highlights from a recent payments study and discuss the future of virtual payments.

Uber has been fined $148 million due to a cyberattack that exposed the data of millions of customers and drivers, Buying Business writes.

On Wednesday, the House passed a five-year FAA reauthorization bill, WTOP notes. Among other things, the bill prohibits voice calls on planes, states that only passengers enrolled in trusted traveler programs can use PreCheck lanes, and does not increase the passenger facility charge (PFC).

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Japan Airlines plans on flying a nonstop service from Seattle to Tokyo, USA TODAY reports.

Another day, another pilot strike for Ryanair. The airline canceled nearly 100 flights on Friday after German pilots announced a strike at the last minute, Buying Business Travel writes.

According to Skift, Singapore Airlines is one step closer to launching the world’s longest flight, a non-stop service to New York that totals nearly 19 hours.