Wanted: Flight to somewhere

ALL over the world, international carriers are hurting. People aren’t flying due to Covid-19 jitters, even as, the United Nations World Tourism Organization recently reported, some 50 percent of international travel destinations have been slowly easing travel restrictions.

A photo recently published in several news sites, for instance, showed rows and rows of Cebu Pacific’s aircraft parked on a tarmac in Australia. The budget carrier, led by the very skilled and competent Gokongwei family, has had to streamline its work force even after management cut their own salaries.

The same is true for legacy carrier Philippine Airlines, owned by the family of aging tycoon “Kapitan” Lucio Tan. Its finances were not really in tip-top shape even prior to the pandemic, so with a clampdown on foreign travel, it’s no surprise that its losses had ballooned six-fold to P22 billion in the first half of the year. Thus, it recently announced a retrenchment program that would slash 35-percent of its labor force.

As a travel and tourism journalist, it’s been quite interesting to observe how each airline has been trying to fly through the financial turbulence they find themselves seemingly stuck in.

They’ve each offered promos offering low-priced tickets, although I’ve been hearing not so welcoming news in that regard. In Cebu Pac’s case, it could be because it has yet to refund many of its customers who had booked flights all through the summer season. (Full disclosure: My family and I are among those who have yet to receive our refunds for flights we were supposed to take last Holy Week.)

While PAL has said it has already refunded P12.72 billion of the P16-billion refund requests, I’m told its ticket promos have also performed below expectations, perhaps simply because people are still afraid to fly.

Most of us live day to day, booking one Zoom meeting or webinar after another, because who knows where we’ll all be in three to six months? To this day, an effective Covid vaccine has yet to be developed, so even stepping out of our homes to buy some groceries feels like a high-stakes poker game on our lives.

And so, the marketing people of many airlines are undoubtedly wracking their brains trying to draw up ingenious projects or programs that would help encourage people to fly again, and get the cash flowing from consumers.

In the case of foreign carriers like Taiwan’s EVA Air and Australia’s Qantas Airlines, both have mounted “flights to nowhere.” Passengers book their seats, get feted sumptuous meals, for quick trips around Taiwan and Australia, respectively.

Singapore Airlines had also planned to do the same, but caved to pressure from environmentalists who said the flight didn’t justify the huge amount of carbon its aircraft would be extending. Instead, the carrier had pop-up restaurant meals on its parked planes, which were immediately sold out. But you know SG Air, its onboard dishes are among the best served by Asian carriers.

PAL has taken the same bold step as its counterparts abroad—that is, offering a scenic tour of some of the country’s major tourist destinations such as Mayon Volcano, Chocolate Hills, Boracay, El

Nido and Coron, to name a few. ( See, “‘Flight to nowhere?’ PAL calls it an ‘aerial tour,’” Businessmirror, October 12, 2020.) The “aerial tour” is being targeted for Halloween, Octpber 31, and is packaged with a stay in Conrad Manila.

However, frequent pre-covid travelers expressed skepticism about this PAL project. I spoke with a few who felt they wouldn’t getting their money’s worth if they took such a flight.

Nikka P. Villamin, 34, whose flights to Tokyo and Boracay were canceled this year due to Covid-19, said, “It defeats the purpose of flying. The most inconvenient part of traveling is the flight itself, so I won’t pay for a flight that will take me back to Manila din naman.” She added that getting infected by Covid-19 is also another concern. “I’m not even thinking of flying until late next year maybe.”

For his part, JJ Yulo, 45, said, “I don’t see the point of spending that money on a flight that won’t take me anywhere. I’d rather spend that on stuff that’ll make my home more fun, like say, a massage chair, or a new turntable, or a TV.”

Marivic G. Lemette, 54, whose marketing work has taken her around the world, thumbed down the idea too. “I just think that this whole Covid thing is here for a reason. I’m slowly making lifestyle changes. Eating less, not buying nonessentials.... Lessening my carbon footprint if you will.”

So, “I’m really taking this whole overconsumptionwill-kill-our-planet thing seriously. So the next time I get on a plane, it will be either for a necessary business trip or a planned family vacay.”

She added, “The airline industry is essential to our post-covid future. We must keep them alive. But from a marketing perspective, maybe they’ll attract more people if they put something a bit more noble into their gimmicks. This fly-to-nowhere sounds nothing more than a junket and, well, I think it’s not prudent to be doing junkets now.”

To the credit of the Department of Tourism, it’s already helped reopen a few tourism destinations like Baguio, the Ilocos Region, island resorts like El Nido and Amanpulo, and just on October 1, even residents of general community quarantine areas like National Capital Region can already visit Boracay Island and lounge about under the sun, while splayed out on its creamy white sand beach.

But I must admit, because of Covid-19, I too have been hesitant to take any short trips anywhere, even by road. For instance, I have yet to visit Big Sis and her familia who live in the south; the last time I saw any of them physically was her birthday in March. Aside from her home being too far—i live in Quezon City— she and her husband are seniors, so I wouldn’t want to bring anything, ahem, unexpected into their lives, in case I’m asymptomatic (knock wood).

So my short breaks from WFH mode are basically quick sojourns to the community market once every two weeks to stock up on seafood, meats, vegetables and fruits, and, last week, making the most out of my trip to my regular salon, Toni & Guy, to check out a few favorite retailers. But with much haste, I must stress.

While it’s great to dream about where our next vacations will be, it’s difficult to decide exactly when. There’s just so much uncertainty surrounding this virus and the climbing infection rate in our country that many of us still feel uncertain about booking any future holiday breaks.

Covid-19 hit us hard and fast that it’s removed our ability to plan our future. For now, carriers will just have to deal with that reality.