face mask and gloves as a preventive measure pushes a trolley at
the Madrid-Barajas Adolfo Suarez Airport in Barajas on March 20,
2020. JAVIER SORIANO / AFP.
With the coronavirus crisis putting a chill on
travel, European airlines are reducing fares to attract passengers
and fill the planes that are still flying.
Travel restrictions adopted by many countries to stem the spread
of the disease have clobbered airlines, bringing air traffic to a
near halt in the spring. And while traffic picked up during the
summer, it is now falling off again.
According to Eurocontrol, which coordinates air traffic in
Europe, traffic has been slowing over the past couple of weeks, and
is now 54 percent below its comparable level last year.
A European airline trade association has put August traffic even
lower, at just 30 percent of 2019 levels.
Eurocontrol is now more pessimistic about a recovery for the
sector.
In the spring it had expected traffic to be 30 percent below
2019 levels in October, but it now sees a 57-percent drop.
While the pandemic has left airlines starved for cash, they have
begun to cut fare prices.
According to ForwardKeys, a company which analyses the tourism
market, airlines trimmed fares from Britain, France, Germany and
the Netherlands to destinations in southern Europe by 15 percent in
August compared with the same period last year.
In a study released Thursday it found that prices on some routes
were down by more than one third.
– ‘Entice travellers’ –
“You have to entice travellers to return to flying and price is
a factor,” said Reginald Otten, deputy managing director for France
at budget airline easyJet.
He said the airline had managed to reopen some routes during the
summer and the planes it flew were nearly full.
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“But we are nevertheless around 30 percent of capacity, which is
a very, very low figure, and the summer is the most important, most
popular (time) for people to travel,” he told AFP.
Lower prices also stimulate traffic, according to Eddie Wilson,
head of Ryanair DAC, one of the two firms which operate flights
under the Ryanair brand.
Ryanair, which has used a low-cost model to become one of
Europe’s biggest airlines, this week launched a brief
buy-one-get-one-free promotion.
“At some stage you can’t sit there and look out of the window
and hope that things will be alright and wait for the politicians
to do something,” he said.
Beyond cutting prices, airlines can and are focusing on their
most profitable routes.
But the reimposition of travel restrictions and tighter
quarantine and testing measures could quickly undo their planning
and efforts.
European airlines earlier this month urged national capitals to
coordinate measures to limit the spread of the virus, saying the
current patchwork of restrictions is hobbling a return to regular
travel around the EU.
Airlines are responding to the drop in demand for travel “with
the tools they have in hand: reducing capacity and promotional
offers, but they have no control over the evolution of the pandemic
and policies on restricting travel,” said Oliver Ponti, vice
president of ForwardKeys.
“The effect of low prices will thus be limited, especially as
consumers remain worried about their plans being disrupted and
rapid reimbursement of their tickets in case of cancellation,” he
added.
AFP
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