People want to travel but are being put off from booking tickets because of the complexity of air travel amid coronavirus restrictions
The complication and hassle of air travel amid coronavirus border restrictions is a bigger factor in low passenger confidence than the fear of catching Covid-19 on-board a plane or at an airport.
That is according to several leading experts in the Middle East aviation market, who have called on governments to look at standardized systems and solutions to open up borders and make air travel a much smoother and less complicated process than it currently is.
“People are not generally scared of the virus. People are worried about their journey and complications and this should be the focus of efforts to restore confidence in air travel,” said Laila Hareb Almheiri, CEO of Alive Group.
She said at the discussion, which was sponsored by Bauer Aviation, that aviation stakeholders should invest money in technology to create new more permanent systems that would curb the spread of the virus and give governments confidence to drop border restrictions and quarantine rules.
Customers “are desperate to travel”, Almheiri said. “It is the complexity of and lack of smoothness in their journey and that is why governments should really have a consistent framework for infection control. What we need again is a framework for biosecurity endorsed by the WHO.
“When I travel now and I visit multiple countries I have to first find out what restrictions there are at each country I plan to visit and it’s so confusing. I am very confident in Emirates Airline, there is no issue there, but why don’t I want to travel?
“It’s because I don’t know enough about the PCR test requirements, results timings, forms to fill in, quarantines; the list goes on. For me, it’s not the price or the confidence in my airline, it’s the process of travel, which is the most important thing right now to address.”
Bernie Dunn, president of Boeing Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, agreed that the main issue impacting passenger confidence is no longer the fear of the virus.
“Six months into this pandemic and people are pretty confident they’re very unlikely to catch Covid inside an aeroplane,” he said. “It’s all about the hassle of travelling from one location to another, and that’s where consistency comes in.”
Dunn and Almheiri’s comments come as the International Air Transport Association (IATA) released data from studies claiming since the start of 2020 there have been 44 cases of Covid-19 reported in which transmission is thought to have been associated with a flight journey.
If true, it means that the risk of contracting the virus on-board is the same as being struck by lightning.
George Fenergi, VP business transformation at SITA, said at the roundtable that a huge amount of money and effort has already gone into stopping passengers from catching the virus while travelling and educating consumers.
But he said the focus for technology providers now is to help governments and airlines make the travel process simpler for passengers.
“I think the silver bullet now is information. A lot of airlines have come to us with this issue; they want a link on their website that the passenger can click on which takes them to a database that explains the regulations in each country.”
“And think of the poor check-in agents. You as a passenger have done your research for your particular journey but how can the check-in agent know the regulations for each journey. There is already a system which allows the agent to know where you’re flying and the visa requirements for your journey. So we are building on that system with updated information.
“IATA has come up with a database of country requirements but it is about the execution and implementation of the system.”
Sam Chui, who is the most widely followed aviation social media influencer in the world, said: “There is so much uncertainty with border closures and changing rules but there are a lot of people that want to fly. It’s because of the uncertainty and constantly changing rules that people don’t have confidence.”
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