Covid not high on travelling worry list

FLIGHT cancellations and exorbitant airfares are of greater concern to travellers than catching Covid, a new Airservices Australia survey has found.

The survey of 1000 people is the first instalment of what is expected to be an annual index of travel sentiment to provide greater insight into what Australians think about air travel.

The results showed 56 per cent of those surveyed ranked flight cancellations as their biggest travel concern, followed by affordability of airfares on 55 per cent.

Catching Covid ranked fourth behind flight delays, with long airport queues fifth.

Airservices noted the results were “not a surprise” given more than half of all travellers were personally impacted by cancellations in the last 12-months.

Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics data for 2022 showed the domestic flight cancellation rate averaged 5 per cent throughout the year, compared to the long term average of 2.1 per cent.

On the subject of affordability, 65 per cent of respondents believed airfares would continue their upward trajectory in 2023 and 64 per cent thought travel was more stressful now than in preCovid times.

Overall just over a third of people (37 per cent) said travel was “critical to their wellbeing” although the figure was higher for younger age groups.

Airservices Australia CEO Jason Harfield said the survey findings were a timely reminder of the importance of air travel not only to the economic lifeblood of the country, but to people’s lives in general.

“The lockdowns appear to have reignited a passion for travel, with 35 per cent of respondents expecting to fly more for holiday and leisure than they did pre-pandemic,” Mr Harfield said.