With wings clipped, airlines confront bleak hibernation
PARIS — Airlines face a long, hard winter after a much hoped for rebound from the coronavirus crisis failed to materialize, prompting savage cost cutting programs and fresh calls for government support.
“We are in a race against time,” said Stephane Albernhe, managing partner at Archery Strategy Consulting.
“The key thing is to have the cash … we need to move quickly, very quickly.”
Airline revenues fell 80 percent in the first six months of the year, the industry body IATA said, but airlines still had fixed costs to cover, including crew, maintenance, fuel, airport levies and now aircraft storage.
After a slight recovery in July as coronavirus restrictions were eased, traffic fell again last month, and bookings for the winter season, which begins this Sunday, are down 78 percent compared with a year earlier, holding the prospect of more hardship to come.
One of the biggest disappointments has been the absence of highly lucrative business- class travelers who prefer now to rely on teleconferencing rather than run the risk of contracting the virus.
Repeated efforts to reassure passengers that air travel is safe have failed to make much of a difference, and government restrictions, including quarantines of up to 14 days, have only added to the pressures on the battered airline companies.
“The risk of contracting COVID- 19 during air travel is really very, very low,” said David Powell, medical consultant for IATA, the International Air Transport Association.
The industry as a whole hopes the introduction of airport testing systems will restore passenger confidence and reduce, if not completely remove, the need for damaging quarantine regimes.
Trial systems are in place in several major airports around the world, and on Friday France announced it would introduce quick, antigen- based testing by the end of the month.
“We are going to launch these tests at the airports, especially for departures to the United States and Italy, and for arrivals from countries on the red list ( of high rates of infection),” France’s Transport Minister, Jean- Baptiste Djebbari, said.
Alarm sounded
Tests may help, but given the damage already done and the likelihood of more to come, IATA continues to sound the alarm, seeking more government help to keep the airlines afloat until there is at least some return to normality.
United Airlines laid off 13,000 staff temporarily this month as it waits on politicians in Washington to thrash out a deal on more coronavirus aid.
The low- cost pioneer Ryanair announced on Thursday that it was cutting its already reduced winter schedule by a third.
Other airlines are coming up with novel ideas to drum up business, with companies in Asia offering “flights to nowhere”, short, circular trips for those desperate to get back into the air again.
Singapore Airlines even opened up one of its giant A380 aircraft as a restaurant, and some have started selling their in- flight food to nostalgic, would- be passengers.