Airports industry body ACI World expects a “surge” in travel demand during the second half of 2021, but forecasts that global passenger numbers will still be down some 47.5% on pre-Covid predictions for the full year. An expected 4.7b drop in traveller numbers in 2021 compared with pre-Covid estimates – to 5.2b – would lead to a loss in airport revenues of more than $94b by the end of 2021, ACI World said as it released a new Covid-19 impact assessment on 25 March. That revenue outlook “cuts in half” pre-coronavirus expectations that airport income would reach $188b in 2021. Amid that bleak picture, however, the airports body expresses optimism that there will be an “upsurge in confidence in air travel provided by vaccination and safety measures”, which should lead to a recovery in international travel starting “this spring” and increasing “significantly” by mid-year. “Hopefully the darkest days are now behind us in terms of overall passenger declines,” says Patrick Lucas, ACI World’s director of economics during a briefing as the impact assessment was released. Indeed, ACI World director general Luis Felipe de Oliveira cites “positive indications in countries with high rates of vaccination”, adding that the industry body “has discerned an escalation of these encouraging signs and prospects for recovery with a surge in travel in the second half of 2021 expected”.<br/>
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IATA has unveiled a four-prong plan it says can help make Latin America’s air transport industry more equitable and competitive following the coronavirus crisis. The group’s regional vice-president for the Americas Peter Cerda says Thursday that simply returning to 2019 travel levels is “unacceptable”. He urges governments to join IATA in helping to rebuild commercial aviation in countries that have little alternative transportation infrastructure. “The industry has lost money [in the past years] and not been competitive because governments have continued to impose barriers,” Cerda says. “If this industry is going to be competitive – and have more connectivity, more and better service, lower prices, and provide more value to the citizens of this region – we need to be a strategic partner with the governments.” Since the global pandemic began more than one year ago, Latin American governments have provided less than 1% of the approximately $225b that governments’ globally set aside to help airlines weather the crisis. Travel restrictions, including quarantine requirements, remain effective in some Latin American countries, hindering hemisphere-wide recovery. Some governments see air travel as “an easy cash cow”, levying taxes and other fees that can make airfares unaffordable to many people in Latin America, Cerda says. “Post-crisis, we must address the region’s serious shortcomings, to make air transport more competitive on a global stage,” he adds.<br/>
European governments can still salvage the summer tourist season despite COVID-19 vaccine setbacks and resurgent infections, if they take joint action on digital health passes and travel rules, airline CEs said Thursday. “Travel in Europe will be possible this summer if EU governments deliver,” industry group Airlines for Europe said in a presentation hosted by the CEOs of Air France-KLM, easyJet, TUI Airlines and Volotea. Renewed lockdowns and slow vaccine rollouts have raised the spectre of another weak European summer that would leave indebted airlines in need of more cash and further damage the travel and tourism sector, which accounted for 10% of pre-pandemic jobs and 9% of economic output. Governments also face political pressures to loosen restrictions as the crisis drags on. German Chancellor Angela Merkel had to ditch plans for a circuit-breaker lockdown over Easter. Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary this week urged UK consumers to ignore official advice against booking foreign travel. The European Parliament voted on Thursday to fast-track work on an EU digital certificate allowing travellers to show evidence of COVID-19 vaccinations, immunity or negative tests.<br/>
Greece on Thursday lifted a one-week quarantine rule for Israeli travellers who are vaccinated against COVID-19 and test negative, the civil aviation authority said. Israeli travellers who show a certificate proving that their inoculation was completed two weeks ago and a negative PCR test 72 hours prior to travel to Greece will not need to quarantine for a week, the Greek civil aviation authority said in an advisory on Thursday. The new rule will be in force until April 5, it said. Under current rules, all foreigners arriving in Greece should test negative and quarantine for seven days. For passengers from Britain and the United Arab Emirates, a second negative test is required before they exit the one-week quarantine. Greece plans to open its tourism sector, a key growth driver for the economy, to people who are vaccinated against COVID-19, have antibodies or test negative from May.<br/>
Anyone wanting to arrive in Germany by plane must from Sunday show a negative Covid test before boarding, the health ministry said, amid concerns over German tourists flocking to Mallorca over the Easter holidays. The new decree must still be approved by Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet, which is expected to happen in the next 24 hours, the ministry said Thursday. "All travellers wishing to enter Germany by plane from March 28... must take a mandatory test before departure," the official said. Airline crews are exempt from the new rules. The test must be less than 48 hours old and is to be paid for by the passenger. The move comes as Germany is battling a sharp rise in coronavirus infections, fuelled by new virus variants, while the country's Covid vaccination drive is still sluggish.<br/>
Widely watched airfares in China are recovering to pre-pandemic levels as domestic tourists lead a patchy air travel recovery, scattering crumbs of hope to a shattered global travel sector. With international markets like Europe still in partial lockdown, the global tourism industry's attention is riveted on China's new travel patterns as it brings COVID-19 under control and lifts curbs on movement. The Chinese domestic market quietly overtook the once-dominant US market in size during the pandemic, but multiple coronavirus outbreaks before last month's Lunar New Year halted the rebound and could lead to Q1 losses. Now, with temporary testing and quarantine restrictions once again lifted, average prices for an economy seat during the April 3-5 Qingming festival, or tomb-sweeping holiday, have rebounded to 96% of 2019 levels, according to data from Ctrip. Economy-class airfares for trips over the Labour Day holiday in early May have risen 11% compared with 2019 levels, says Ctrip, run by online travel giant Trip.com Group Ltd. "It seems like demand has really caught up with capacity once again and airlines are deciding discounts are no longer needed to stimulate demand," said Luya You, transportation analyst at BOCOM International in Hong Kong. "I think the pent-up demand that everyone has been expecting is finally showing up in full force," said You, adding she expects yields and revenues to reach normal by the second half.<br/>
The suspension of international flights amid the coronavirus pandemic will cost Vietnamese airlines D15t ($649m) in 2021, according to the country’s Vietnam Aviation Business Association. The association made the claim in a report filed with the country’s Ministry of Planning and Investment, according to a report in the VnExpress news outlet. This follows D18t in losses in 2020. According to the report, low-cost carrier VietJet Air has requested a “credit package” of D4-5t for the 2021-23 timeframe, while Bamboo Airways has asked for long-term loan of D5t. This follows a D4tn bailout of Vietnam Airlines. Bamboo said that any such discussions are confidential. “Ongoing submissions and discussions between a company and government authorities of such nature in Vietnam are considered confidential information in accordance with relevant regulations,” it says. “Nevertheless, the fact that some private airlines in Vietnam, including Bamboo Airways, have successfully managed to thrive in [what is dubbed the] “worst year in aviation history”, is a vivid demonstration of their resilience and determination. These valuable features should be highly considered when developing the government’s support policies, in which financial resources come from a limited government budget and should be utilized effectively.”<br/>
Boeing is poised to resume delivering its 787 Dreamliners this week, ending a five-month halt while the planemaker’s mechanics searched for tiny structural flaws in the carbon-fiber aircraft. The initial shipment is expected as soon as Friday, with Boeing likely to hand over two or three of the jets this month, said the people, who asked not to be named as the matter is confidential. The FAA said late Thursday that it cleared two of the four planes on which it had conducted special inspections, and had yet to complete checks of the other two. The renewed Dreamliner deliveries will ease the uncertainty that had been building around Boeing’s most advanced aircraft. The drought in shipments of the wide-body plane added to the company’s cash pressures, with more than 80 undelivered Dreamliners stacked up around Boeing factories and in a desert storage lot in Victorville, California. “We continue to expect to resume delivering 787s by the end of March,” Boeing said in an emailed statement. “However, we will continue to take the time necessary and will adjust any delivery plans as needed. We remain in constant and transparent communication with our customers and regulators.” The FAA’s action cleared the way for Boeing to deliver two Dreamliners, and signaled that the regulator found that the company’s revised processes for building 787 jets met safety standards.<br/>
European operators of the De Havilland Canada (DHC) Dash 8-400 could soon be carrying up to 90 passengers in the twin-turboprop after the bloc’s regulator approved the modification. Launched in 2016 while the programme was still under Bombardier’s ownership, the 90-seat layout entered service in 2018 with India’s SpiceJet. But DHC, which acquired the Dash 8-400 programme in 2019, says that “based on consultations with current and prospective customers” there are opportunities to deploy higher-capacity versions in Europe. The EASA validated what DHC describes as “our extra-capacity solution of up to a 90-seat configuration” on 23 March.<br/>