by JORDAN CHONG  

December 1st 2020

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FEBRUARY

The biennial Singapore Airshow went ahead with “enhanced precautionary measures” in response to COVID-19. Read More » Borders were open at the time except for individuals who had been in China in the previous 14 days. International visitors were sharply down compared with the country’s previous shows.

Show organiser, Experia Events, said 30,000 trade visitors from more than 110 countries attended the show, down from 54,000 trade visitors from 147 countries in 2018.

More than two thirds of exhibitors said they would return to Asia’s biggest airshow in 2022. The reduced attendance was perhaps the reason the event was short on order announcements, with turboprop manufacturer, ATR, the exception.

Growing concerns about COVID-19 led to airlines such as Japan Airlines, Qantas and Singapore Airlines, among others, to scale back their presence or withdraw completely from the China market in the month.

Cathay Pacific Group, heavily exposed to the Mainland, reduced capacity “temporarily” to its northern neighbour by about 30% due to the “commercial and operational realities at the current time”. Later it increased the capacity cut to 40%.

Several Asia-Pacific airlines reported their latest financial results. Many posted profits for the most recent half, but they were beginning to factor in the impact of COVID-19 on their operations. Singapore Airlines said the exponential scale of the COVID-19 outbreak posited significant challenges for the airline group. Qantas Group said it would have a net negative impact of A$100 million to A$150 million (up to US$110 million) and that it would update the market in April.

Figures from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) showed domestic passengers fell 84.8%, to 7.3 million, in February compared with a year earlier. International passengers were down 82.4%, at 1.1 million.

IATA released its initial assessment of the impact of COVID-19 with a predicted 13% contraction in demand at Asia-Pacific carriers in calendar 2020, a revenue decline of US$27.8 billion.

Boeing forecast the region’s airlines would require approximately 4,500 new commercial aircraft in the next 20 years to support air travel demand in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.

By month end, it was clear COVID-19 could not be quelled as quickly as SARS in 2003 and that closed international borders would decimate regional and long-haul passenger demand.

At the SIA group, it was announced Campbell Wilson would return to Scoot for a second stint as CEO on April 1. Wilson was the launch CEO of the LCC, established in 2012. He was in charge of the airline until 2016, when he was appointed SIA’s executive vice president of sales and marketing. Wilson was among several staff given new roles in a reshuffle of key posts at SIA.