Reference News Network reported on August 23
According to a report on the BBC website on August 21, more than two years after the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, the global aviation industry is still in a recovery phase.
John Holland-Kay, the chief executive of Britain’s Heathrow Airport, one of the world‘s largest international airports, has come as a surprise when he asked airlines that use the airport to stop selling tickets this summer.
Horan-Kay said in the open letter to ensure that travelers “have a safe and reliable journey and have their luggage reach their destination at the same time”.
Heathrow Airport, UK (AP)
He also announced that Heathrow is currently capped at 100,000 passengers a day, 4,000 less than usual. Similar restrictions have been imposed at some other airports in Europe.
Air travel has seen many disruptions over the past few months, such as last-minute flight cancellations, long queues of passengers, delayed luggage; and the inability of major airports and airlines to keep up with demand. The chaos is set to intensify as many countries enter peak holiday season.
So, will air travel ever return to normal? BBC International’s Investigative programme brought in four experts to explore the question.
Aviation analyst Sally Getsing said countries in a “crisis state” were Britain, the Netherlands and others, with Australia, Ireland, Germany and Spain also experiencing some problems.
Gesing believes the extent to which travel is disrupted will depend on how quickly a particular destination can lift its lockdown measures. Europe’s approach to easing regulations and border restrictions is rather abrupt. The UK is an example, it happened almost “overnight” and the aviation industry was notified too late.
Charles Williams is editor of Aircraft Business magazine. “The operating costs of airlines have completely changed over the past 20 years, and they have all adopted lower-cost operating models,” he noted.
But just getting the plane into the air isn’t enough. Williams said flying a 100-seat plane would require passengers to fill the reasonably priced 80 seats to recoup the cost. It is for this reason that airlines suffered such severe losses when there was a sudden and dramatic drop in passenger numbers two years ago.
In the spring of 2020, there was a shortage of parking spaces, Williams said. It has become very expensive for airlines to park their planes. Some of the mothballed planes were never flown again. Restarting an aircraft is also expensive these days. Hundreds of planes were suddenly restarted without enough maintenance staff to carry out meticulous maintenance checks, preventing the planes from being put into service in time and increasing the number of delays.
And, for planes that can fly, fuel prices have soared.
The sudden rebound in the airline industry has led to months of chaos. The airline industry struggles to manage its costs and meet customer demand.
Laurie Garro is a professor of civil engineering and president of a nonprofit aerospace research organization. She noted that overall passenger demand has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, but airports and airlines are overwhelmed.
Uman Gupta is the managing director of Alton Aviation Consulting. He said the surge in demand was beyond anyone’s imagination.
Staff wages are one of the biggest costs for airlines and airport operators. Many employees and contractors have left or been fired during the pandemic, and there are now not enough staff to meet demand.
Convincing people to come back has proven difficult. Many found jobs that were less affected by the outbreak. Pilots are also in short supply.
So, can air travel return to normal? Experts think it is possible, but perhaps not until next year. There is no quick solution.Return to Sohu, see more
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