Comment
Airlines plead for relaxed quarantine as losses escalate
September 1st 2020
The COVID-19 nightmare continues for the aviation industry. Read More » In a region with a large percentage of airline networks in the medium to long-haul sector it was hoped domestic markets would be well on the way to recovery by now and that international services would follow in months.
Such optimism has proved premature as second and third waves of COVID-19 have emerged across the world. In India, the U.S., Brazil and southern Africa the number of coronavirus cases and resulting fatalities is horrendous. In the Asia-Pacific, new outbreaks in New Zealand, Australia and Hong Kong, much of them due to inconsistencies in quarantine and testing enforcement, are delaying travel bubbles intended to kick start passenger demand across the region.
As has been the case since the onslaught of COVID-19 worldwide, Singapore’s government continues to take the lead in support for the travel and tourism sectors. It is halving quarantine for travellers from-low risk Australia (except Victoria), China, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam to seven days.
Thailand is experimenting with relaxed rules for entry into the economically ravaged tourist hub of Phuket and a travel bubble has been established between Brunei, New Zealand and Singapore that replaces quarantine with a test for the virus on entry to both countries. Brunei has announced it is negotiating a travel bubble with Japan and Hong Kong was reported at press time to be in discussions with Japan, Thailand and “other countries” about setting up travel bubbles. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region also has re-opened its border to airline passengers transitting to their final destinations.
The problem is such initiatives are piecemeal. Association of Asia-Pacific Airlines director general, Subhas Menon, applauded the Singapore government’s efforts “to restart air travel in a safe and progressive way”. “Adopting a testing regime without onerous quarantine requirements sets a standard worth emulating across the region,” he said.
But it’s a long road back to travel untrammeled by the pandemic. The International Air Transport Association (IATA), which had hoped for a restart of airline operations this year, has revised its forecast for a genuine recovery to 2024 - at the earliest.
As we report in our cover story this month, Region’s Revenue Rout, the latest Asia-Pacific airline results paint a grim picture of the industry with several carriers suffering record or near record losses. Virgin Australia will stay flying but at the cost of 3,000 jobs and close to a 50% depletion in its fleet and network.
The Qantas group has amalgamated its domestic and international divisions and announced another 2,400 redundancies. Thai Airways International (THAI) is alive, but barely, and is on government life support.
Only South Korea and Taiwan, where carriers with cargo divisions are among the largest in the world, have airlines kept their financial heads above water. South Korea, China and Taiwan are major manufacturing centres for personal protection equipment (PPE) and medical supplies now at peak demand because of COVID-19. It shows in the airline results of the respective countries.
IATA and other aviation-related associations have called on governments to continue to support airlines and airports in the toughest test they have faced in their operating histories. But most nations have ignored pleas to relax quarantine rules and introduce health checks recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
Apart from the virtual bankruptcy of THAI, its subsidiary, Nok Air, and the insolvency of Virgin Australia, the Asia-Pacific has escaped mass airline collapses. But if the region’s governments fail to open their borders and their pockets to their crisis stricken airlines, more carriers across the region could go out of business.
TOM BALLANTYNE
Associate editor and chief correspondent
Orient Aviation Media Group
