Travel industry expects prolonged Covid stress
INTERNATIONAL travel will mean more stress and more tests in the coming year, according to many of the world’s top travel executives.
More than 400 industry leaders from airlines, aviation suppliers and travel agencies responded to the survey examining travel expectations by Collinson and the CAPA Centre for Aviation.
Although close to 40 per cent believed travel would fully recover in 2023, 79 per cent were of the view it would be a more stressful experience than before the pandemic. One of the reasons for that was the expectation pre- and post-flight Covid-19 tests would remain a requirement until the end of next year for travellers.
Just over half of the respondents (54 per cent) believed Covid-19 tests were here for another 12 months while a quarter expected PCR testing to stick around until the end of 2023. The cost and inconvenience of pre- and postflight Covid-19 testing has been described by travel leaders like Qantas chief executive
Alan Joyce as a major deterrent to travel.
Flight Centre chief executive Graham Turner was also keen to see expensive PCR tests replaced with rapid antigen tests to help streamline and simplify the travel process.
“One PCR test costs $150 so for a family of four that’s $600 at least,” said Mr Turner.
“A more sensible approach would be if (governments) accepted antigen tests which are very accurate, or self tests so people would know whether they were right to travel.”
The survey by global travel company Collinson in partnership with CAPA Centre for
Aviation found there remained mixed feelings about the “safety” of travel.
Although 10 per cent believed it was still unsafe to travel, 42 per cent disagreed, providing everyone adhered to Covid-prevention measures such as vaccination, maskwearing and social distancing.
From next week, all Qantas and Jetstar frontline crews will be fully vaccinated against Covid-19, after the airline group set a November 15 deadline for pilots, flight attendants and customer service staff to be double jabbed.
Those who were yet to meet the requirement remained on leave or stood down, with Qantas set to review their vaccination status before they returned to work. Rex could also boast fully vaccinated frontline staff, and Virgin Australia was expected to have its flight and cabin crews all double dosed by November 15.
Alliance Aviation, which was Australia’s first company to mandate Covid-19 vaccination for all staff, announced this week that 100 per cent of workers had received a single dose of vaccine, with the majority fully vaxxed.