Anyone Calling Sub $2 for QANTAS ?, page-800

IMO, the last industries to recover or get back to ‘normal’ are tourism, hospitality and airlines. All these industries involve large gatherings which make social distancing almost impossible to implement.

Focusing on airlines specifically, even if passengers are intentionally seated a few seats apart from each other (which significantly reduces the capacity and profitability of each flight), everyone will still be in a confined space for a few hours, sharing the same toilets and potentially being served by an infected crew member who is exempt from quarantine. Controlling social distancing in airports would also be hard to manage. Recent examples of baggage handlers, crew members and pilots being infected further confirm this increased risk.

International flights are unlikely to be allowed anytime soon as countries around the world are still trying to control the virus and have closed their borders. Opening up our borders too soon will only increase the risk of a second wave and continuing a 14 day forced quarantine in hotels for arrivals would not only be expensive but would also deter most people from travelling to Australia.

As for domestic travel, even if restrictions are eventually lifted, it would initially only be for essential travel and with the success of Zoom and other cloud based services, companies would question the need for any travel as it would increase the risk of their employees getting infected and spreading it within their organisation. Also need to bear in mind that airlines are only profitable if planes are filled above a certain percentage so if airlines are allowed to resume flights but can’t get enough passengers, they will be operating at a loss.

As Alan Joyce stated in the article, no one knows when this is going to end but the only certainty is that everyday restrictions are in place, Airlines will continue to bleed.