STAFF FACE CALLS TO DELAY TRAVEL PLANS OVER COSTS
▶ Businesses ask for flexibility with flights after ticket prices for some nations double, writes Patrick Ryan
Employers in the UAE have been looking for cheaper flights home for staff as airline ticket prices continue to increase. Employees in the Emirates typically receive one flight a year to their home countries as part of their contracts, with some companies even offering tickets for their entire family.
But human resources managers in some companies have now urged staff to be more “flexible and realistic” because some flight costs have almost doubled in recent months.
Even fares for short journeys to places such as India and Bangladesh have increased to more than Dh2,500 ($680) a ticket, while flights to London are now about Dh4,000.
“A lot of companies are asking staff not to take direct flights home this summer because the costs have gone up tremendously,” said Rohini Bhalla-Gill, a HR consultant who works in Dubai.
“In some cases the prices have almost doubled, especially to the UK, so employees need to flexible about that.
“In one case, I worked with a company that had one staff member threaten to resign if they didn’t get the same flight they always used in the past.”
The challenge for companies has been compounded with many staff hoping to return home this summer for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic started.
“Companies are not saying they won’t pay for staff to fly home, but people should be prepared to accept the airline or the route could be different than what they used in the past,” Ms Bhalla-Gill said.
“Staff need to work with their employers. They wouldn’t be booking these flights either if they were paying out of their own money.
“Everyone’s in this together and companies are just getting back on their feet after Covid19 brought everything to a standstill.”
The cost of aviation fuel has increased by more than 45 per cent this year, figures compiled by Bloomberg show.
That has pushed up the price of tickets.
Fuel usually accounts for about a third of airline operating costs, Adit Damodaran, an economist at flight booking app Hopper, told The New York Times.
Sean Lochrie, an assistant professor at Heriot-Watt University Dubai who researches travel and tourism, said there had been a major shift in travel patterns as a result of Covid-19 restrictions being lifted.
“Outbound travel has almost returned to pre-pandemic levels, as flights continue to increase their capacity and restart routes that were stopped or had a limited number of flights,” he said.
“However, there has been a steep increase in flight costs, which reflects the surge in passengers travelling.
“Additionally, the upcoming Eid break in May has also increased the demand for destinations such as the UK and India, among others, as people look to take short breaks to their home countries.”
Travellers should expect to pay more in the summer months, with costs likely to subside in September, he said.
“Although the post-pandemic boom points towards a significant recovery for the travel industry from the major dip in 2020 and 2021, it also means that UAE residents will pay more to travel, at least in the near future,” he said.
“It is predicted that flight rates should decrease in September, but it would also depend on the global economic situation.”
Claire Donnelly, from human resources company MHC Consulting in Dubai, said staff needed to accept that having employers pay for an annual flight home was a perk, rather than a legal obligation.
“It’s an allowance and it’s not part of the labour laws that companies need to provide an annual flight home,” she said.
“Many companies pay an allowance for a flight home, over the course of a year, in the employee’s salary and it is up to the staff member how they manage it.
“It’s not like employees pay the money back if they manage to find a flight that’s cheaper than their allowance.”
Many companies continued to pay the flight allowance to staff members throughout the pandemic, despite the travel restrictions, she said.
Siama Qadar, who runs fashion company Hybella, said she was unable to justify the increased costs of flights for staff this summer.
“Some airlines are close to Dh4,000 just to fly to London at the moment,” she said.
“I have asked my employees to postpone their flights home until later in the year, when the prices are more reasonable.
“I know people want to fly back during the summer as the weather gets extremely hot, but we just can’t accommodate that expense at the moment.”
She said the increased cost of flights was having a wider effect on her business because she had to rearrange meetings in other countries.
“Pre-pandemic I would pay around Dh1,300 to travel to India and Bangladesh,” she said.
“Now India is working out to about Dh2,300 and Bangladesh is Dh2,800. That’s just not feasible for flights that are less than three hours.”
In one case, a staff member threatened to resign if they didn’t get the same flight they always used in the past ROHINI BHALLA-GILL
HR consultant