Before the coronavirus, a decades-long aviation boom spawned a network of nearly 50,000 air routes that traversed the world. In less than a year, the pandemic has wiped almost a third of them off the map. Border closures, nationwide lockdowns and the fear of catching Covid-19 from fellow passengers have crippled commercial travel. As thousands of domestic and international connections disappear completely from airline timetables, the world has suddenly stopped shrinking. The crisis is unwinding a vast social and industrial overhaul that took place during half a century of air-travel proliferation. In years to come, overseas business trips and holidays will likely mean more airport stopovers, longer journey times, and perhaps an additional mode of transport. Even when an effective vaccine is found, the economic reality of the recovery may mean some non-stop flights are gone for good. With borders effectively shut from Europe to New Zealand, the bulk of the world’s dropped routes are inevitably cross-border. But thousands of domestic legs have also been axed, reflecting the pressure airlines face at home as they cut jobs and retire aircraft to find a cost base that reflects their shrunken situation. In late January, 47,756 operational routes criss-crossed the world, more than half of them in the US, Western Europe and Northeast Asia, according to OAG Aviation Worldwide. By Nov. 2, there were just 33,416 routes on global schedules, the data show.<br/>
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Passenger jets will be able to transport coronavirus vaccines at the required ultra-low temperatures as long as they are stored in specially made containers, according to Europe’s biggest cargo-only airline. No plane, even a purpose-built freighter, would otherwise be able to keep inoculations at the minus-80 degrees Celsius (minus-112 Fahrenheit) specified by Pfizer for its shot, according to Cargolux Airlines International CEO Richard Forson. That would make shipment in custom-designed boxes the only viable option, he said Thursday. “The container itself can remain at ambient temperature because it’s protected on the inside,” he said, adding that capacity won’t be an issue. “All the passenger aircraft in the world will be mobilized to transport these vaccines,” he said. Pfizer and German partner BioNTech delivered the most promising news yet about a potential Covid-19 vaccine earlier this week, when a study showed their shot prevented more than 90% of symptomatic infections in the trial of tens of thousands of volunteers. While the product remains in clinical trials, attention is already turning to how a proven dose can be manufactured and transported at the quantities needed to inoculate most of the world. One potential obstacle may be that bottlenecks appear elsewhere in the supply chain, Forson said, since Pfizer has said the box carrying the vaccine will have only a 10-day lifespan. It can also be opened no more than twice for a maximum period of one minute at a time, he added.<br/>
US airline trade group Airlines for America (A4A) expects 39% fewer passengers will travel by air during this year’s Thanksgiving holiday period, which will be characterised by markedly different travel patterns amid a third wave of coronavirus infections. The Thanksgiving holiday is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November – this year that falls on the 26th – and is traditionally the busiest travel weekend of the year in the USA. Many people take additional days off, stretching the holiday into a longer break. In 2019, US airlines carried more than 31.6m passengers during the 12 days spanning the period from the Thursday before the holiday to the Monday after. This year, they will carry just more than half that number across a longer timeframe, A4A projects. “On a day-to-day basis, the number of passengers is down about 65% year-on-year,” says Nicholas Calio, the trade group’s CE. “We hope that to go up at Thanksgiving, but the demand is softening.”<br/>
Delta and Southwest on Thursday cautioned that the recent surge in COVID-19 cases may have a negative impact on travel over the winter holidays, a period the sector had hoped would see improved bookings. The United States on Wednesday reported new COVID-19 infections reached an all-time daily high for a second day in a row and the number of people hospitalized also surged to the highest ever during the pandemic. “With the US hitting a grim milestone of 10 million positive cases and outbreaks in Europe and other parts of the world, all signs point to a challenging winter ahead,” Delta CE Ed Bastian said in a memo. The US DoT said the country’s airlines carried 65% fewer passengers in September versus the same month last year, the smallest decrease since March. Airlines say travel demand in November remains down 65%. Airlines are making a renewed push for $25b in assistance after a $25b program of mostly cash grants for payroll approved by Congress in March expired on Sept. 30. American Airlines and United last month furloughed 32,000 workers. Talks between House and Senate committees overseeing airlines to hammer out language on more airline payroll assistance have resumed over the last week, but prospects for any immediate measure remain hazy. “The situation in the industry is still dire,” said Airlines for America CE Nick Calio, noting that the US industry is losing about $180m a day. He said airlines were hopeful that the current Congress would act before the end of the year.<br/>
With many of their foreign competitors in the doldrums amid a pandemic-led downturn, China’s three largest carriers — having already experienced a steady domestic recovery — are well-placed to recapture market share in the international air travel market. A HSBC Global Research report notes that domestic traffic recovery — after bottoming out in February, when the coronavirus outbreak was at its worst in China — has led to many carriers swinging back to the black, and “comfortably” achieving positive operating cash flow. This gives them some headway in the international market, when borders gradually reopen. “We argue that with many foreign competitors struggling to survive, the Big Three airlines could gain incremental share in many routes,” note the researchers. They note that what could also be in Chinese carriers’ favour is the fact that many flagship carriers of key Chinese outbound destinations are in bad shape financially. The report cites Thai Airways, Malaysia Airlines and Cathay Pacific as three examples. The latest HSBC report also comes amid positive news of a potential Covid-19 vaccine, which has given a beleaguered industry some cheer. This, note researchers, could help spur some level of international air travel recovery.<br/>
Airlines in Malaysia could take three years to bounce back from the coronavirus pandemic, depending on the outbreak in the country and abroad, the transport ministry said. Transport Minister Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong said earlier this week that in the Malaysian Aviation Commission's (MAVCOM) revised projections for passenger traffic this year, it expects passenger numbers to shrink as much as 75.6% to 26.6m, compared with the 109.2m passengers recorded in 2019. "In this regard, airlines are expected to need a period of three years to fully recover the situation from the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, subject to the of the outbreak in the country and abroad," Wee said in a written parliamentary reply dated Monday. MAVCOM first revised lower its 2020 passenger traffic forecast in June, expecting a contraction of as much as 50.3%, to 54.3m passengers. Wee said passenger demand had fallen from 280,321 a day in January to 59,378 a day in September, adding that the ministry continued to work with the Tourism Ministry and airlines to increase the public's confidence to use aviation services to revive the domestic tourism sector.<br/>
Hanoi has signed off on funding of VND109b ($4.7b) for the first phase of Ho Chi Minh City’s new airport, to be located in nearby Long Thanh province. Deputy PM Trinh Dinh Dung signed the decision on 11 November, according the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam. The first phase will run from 2020 to 2025, with the ultimate aim to produce one of the region’s major air hubs. Phase one involves the development of one 4,000m long runway, a passenger terminal, and other infrastructure that will be capable of handling 25m passengers or 1.2m tons of cargo annually. Phase two will see the development of a second runway and terminal. This will bring total capacity to 75m passengers and 2.7m tonnes of cargo annually. In the longer term, the airport will have a yearly capacity of 100m passengers and 5m tonnes of cargo.<br/>
The New Zealand Airline Pilots Association has been calling for mandatory use for months and restated the plea today after the latest Covid-19 scare in Auckland. "I struggle to understand why they're not mandatory on all forms of public transports - taxis, buses and planes," association president Andrew Ridling said. Epidemiologist Michael Baker Friday also repeated his call for compulsory mask use on planes and other public transport. The requirement to wear masks on planes was dropped by the Government when Auckland moved down alert levels after the August resurgence although masks are encouraged and compulsory use is being reviewed as part of the response to the latest community case of Covid. Ridling said the Government needed to go further. "I think it should happen now," said Ridling, who had just flown from Christchurch to Auckland this morning on a flight where about half the passengers were wearing masks. Ridling said masks would help prevent stepping back to requiring social distancing on passenger planes. On jets, this meant not selling the middle seat, which made the economics of running flights marginal and threatened airline profits and more jobs.<br/>