For more than two years, the main topic of conversation pretty much everywhere has been about the impact of Covid-19. Now that the worst of the pandemic seems to be over and people are travelling more freely again, another hot topic is on the tips of everyone's tongues: expensive plane tickets. People are looking for flights - sometimes their first in years - in a rush of what's been termed "revenge travel". Internet searches show sky-high airfares for many routes, yet travellers with wanderlust are opting to stomach the higher costs after being grounded for so long. "The demand is off the charts," Delta CE Ed Bastian said at an industry conference last week, noting that fares this summer maybe 30 per cent higher than pre-pandemic levels. "It's coming with leisure, it's coming with premium customers, it's coming with business, it's coming with international. It doesn't matter what the category is." The trend is across geographies, though some places are more squeezed than others. Searches for a return economy-class ticket between Hong Kong and London on Cathay Pacific Airways in late June turn up prices as high as HK$42,051 (S$7,380), which is more than 5 times the typical cost before the pandemic. Direct flights between New York and London around the same time cost more than US$2,000 in economy. A Mastercard Economics Institute study found the cost of flying from Singapore was on average 27% higher in April than in 2019, while flights from Australia were 20% more. Increasingly, travellers are booking tickets months in advance as they're worried about the cost of buying at the last minute, said David Mann, chief economist for Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa at the institute.<br/>
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The US Commerce Department on Monday will unveil a new strategy aimed at boosting international tourism hit hard by COVID-19 and government travel restrictions by streamlining the entry process and promoting more diverse destinations. The "National Travel and Tourism Strategy" sets a goal of 90m international visitors by 2027 who will spend an estimated $279b annually, topping pre-pandemic levels, the department told Reuters. "There are a lot of industries that are well past COVID - travel and tourism is not," US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said. The federal government must do more to support the resurgence of travel and tourism to ensure the industry rebuilds to be "more resilient, sustainable and equitable," according to the draft strategy document. In 2019, the United States had 79.4m international visitors, a figure that plummeted to 19.2m in 2020 as the pandemic hit and rose to just 22.1m in 2021. International visitors spent $239.4b in 2019, but just $81b in 2019, the Commerce Department said. Before COVID, tourism supported 9.5m US jobs and generated $1.9t in economic output. One of the strategy's goals is to modernize entry procedures for visitors to enter and travel within the US. "We need to streamline the entry process," Raimondo said. "It's cumbersome and very paper-based and we want to move to a more digital process."<br/>
Thousands of UK holidaymakers have been left stranded overseas after the travel disruption gripping airlines and domestic airports worsened over the weekend. Airlines cancelled nearly 500 flights into and out of the UK over the four-day platinum jubilee holiday, including scores at short notice, data company Cirium said. EasyJet made up many of the last-minute cancellations, and on Monday the low-cost airline said it had cancelled a further 37 flights, but that passengers had been told before arriving at the airport. It added that it expected to “see similar levels of advance cancellations in the coming days of around 30 flights a day”. The airline said the vast majority of its flights operated as normal, and blamed “the ongoing challenging operating environment” for the disruption. It has said it is fully staffed for the summer and does not expect to recruit more crew. In all, about 15,000 passengers were hit by last-minute changes on Sunday alone, and it was expected to take three days to clear the backlog, according to travel consultancy the PC Agency. Would-be passengers, including some school staff and pupils with exams this week, complained of being stuck abroad after half-term holidays. Passengers have endured 10 days of disruption, delays and cancellations across many of the UK’s airports, as the aviation industry has struggled to cope with the rise in demand for travel. The problems have been acute in the UK but have stretched across many parts of Europe, including the Netherlands, Ireland and Sweden. In the US, disruptions have persisted for more than a year.<br/>
Bristol Airport has called on the government to speed up security vetting for new recruits, so it can get more people working sooner. Head of Customer Operations Richard Thomasson claimed it can take up to 12 weeks for clearance to come through. He said: "Anything the government can do to really fast track that process will really help us." Passengers have been facing queues at security and long wait times for bags to be loaded onto planes. The airport is hoping to recruit 100 extra staff to help with the issues at a careers fair on Thursday, 9 June. It wants to get as many new recruits as possible to be able to start work in time for the summer holidays. Meanwhile, problems have continued to be reported with flights being cancelled going into and out of the airport.<br/>
Federal authorities intend to seize two aircraft believed to be owned by Roman Abramovich, saying the Russian oligarch violated strict US export regulations linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to court filings. The planes — a Boeing 787 Dreamliner and a Gulfstream jet — were both manufactured in the United States and are valued at over $400m. In March, a few weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine, Abramovich had the planes flown to Russia, and in one case to another country, without securing the necessary licenses or approval from the Bureau of Industry and Security, a unit of the Department of Commerce, the filings said. The Boeing was flown to the United Arab Emirates and the Gulfstream to Russia. Agents with the FBI traced the aircraft to Mr. Abramovich, who owns them through a series of shell companies in the British Virgin Islands, Cyprus and Isle of Jersey, according to an affidavit submitted in federal court in Manhattan in support of the seizure warrants. These moves stem from a new Department of Justice initiative, known as Task Force KleptoCapture, which was established in March to go after assets belonging to Russian oligarchs. It’s the first time the task force has taken action against Abramovich, who is believed to be one of Russia’s wealthiest industrialists, with an estimated net worth in excess of $13b. <br/>
Credit ratings agency Icra on Monday revised upward its projection of international air passenger traffic at Indian airports at 80-85 per cent of the pre-pandemic volumes during this fiscal. The volume of such travellers has already touched 72% of the pre-Covid level in May. The steep recovery in international passengers' demand came on the back of resumption of scheduled flight operations in late March in the wake of easing of travel restrictions norms and resilient passenger demand, Icra said. Major destinations driving the international traffic demand are Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Europe, it said. Commercial operations of international flights resumed on March 27 after a hiatus of two years amid COVID-19 pandemic. During that period international operations were limited to countries through special flights under the 'Vande Bharat Mission' and bilateral 'air transport bubble' agreements with several countries.<br/>
China Southern Airlines' first domestic flight from Shanghai since the city lifted its more than two-month lockdown took off on Monday. Flight CZ6506 from Shanghai to Shenyang in northeast Liaoning Province took off from Shanghai Pudong International Airport at 1:02pm and landed at its destination about 3:30pm. It marks the gradual restoration of China Southern's passenger flight services in Shanghai, which had been suspended since the city imposed its phased lockdown from the end of March. From Wednesday, the Guangzhou-based carrier will resume another flight, from Shanghai Pudong to Changchun in northeast Jilin Province. A total of 66 domestic flights and 42 international flights were operated at the Pudong and Hongqiao airports during the Dragon Boat Festival between Friday and Sunday. As of Monday, Shanghai has restored air links to about 20 domestic cities, including Beijing, Dalian in northeast Liaoning, Jinan in eastern Shandong, Kunming in southwest Yunnan and Sanya in southern Hainan Island. China Eastern Airlines operated about 140 domestic flights between May 20 and June 3, according to the carrier. Between Monday and June 12, the carrier plans to operate two daily flights between the Hongqiao airport and Changchun in Jilin. Juneyao Airlines has carried nearly 10,000 passengers as of Sunday with over 80 restored flights. The average load factor has been rising steadily to about 60% on each flight, according to the carrier.<br/>
Together, the four largest airports in Australia registered profit in 2020-21, even though air travel suffered a hit due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, stated a report by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. According to the competition watchdog’s Airport Monitoring Report, Sydney Airport reported an operating profit of $148.46m last financial year, while Melbourne Airport posted a loss of $106.82m. Brisbane and Perth airports posted profits of $48.14m and $26.89m, respectively. The report does note that the combined profits of the four airports in 2020-21 were only around 5% of profits from before the pandemic. ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey said: “Despite severely reduced aeronautical revenues, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth airports were still able to turn a profit last financial year as a result of reduced operating costs. “This is a surprising result, given the impact of the pandemic on the aviation industry, and it demonstrates the resilience of the airports.” However, the airports rejected this assessment by the ACCC. The Australian Associated Press quoted Perth Airport as saying that the regulator had confused ‘profit’ and EBITA (earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation).<br/>