Politics must not derail industry recovery

February 1st 2023

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The Asia-Pacific’s recovery from the pandemic has lagged behind other regions, primarily from China’s closure to the world, but also because some governments are being extremely cautious about entry of Mainland visitors to their countries. Read More »

On January 8, there was a universal sigh of relief when Beijing did a COVID U turn by suddenly opening its border to international visitors and allowing its citizens to travel abroad.

Since then, unfortunately, politics has again reared its ugly head. What should have been a smooth ramp-up of international travel to and from China has been stunted after several governments imposed new entry restrictions on Chinese tourists travelling to their countries.

Important Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia decided to welcome Chinese visitors with open arms. But equally important Japan, South Korea and even Australia, are being far more cautious in accepting Mainland visitors; most usually requiring proof of vaccination for entry into their countries.

And let us not neglect the other reality that is putting the brakes on the reopening of the Chinese international travel market – the closure of Russian airspace to most European airlines. Their flights to China can be up to two hours longer than pre-pandemic times because they must detour around Russia to avoid the war zone.

And the problems do not end there for carriers considering re-opening routes to Mainland China and elsewhere in the region. Landing slots these airlines had in 2019 are now useless. They must be renegotiated. As a result, airlines previously intent on building market share on the Mainland are extremely cautious about re-launching services into the country.

Because of these factors, Chinese carriers are at a huge advantage to their global rivals. They can operate their networks via Russian airspace saving a minimum of 2.5 hours flying time vis-à-vis their European competitors and costing them much less in fuel.

The present situation illustrates that politics and the varied and separate actions of individual governments can play havoc with a global industry like aviation, adding to the already complicated business of international commercial flying.

Frustratingly, as the International Air Transport Association and Airports Council International have pointed out, there is no evidence restricted air travel has slowed the pandemic’s spread.

Rightly, the world is learning to live with the virus as it has with influenza. It is time governments, especially in the Asia-Pacific, learned to do the same and free the region from travel restrictions based on politics, not reality.

TOM BALLANTYNE
Associate editor and chief correspondent
Orient Aviation Media Group