Corporate DispatchPro LAURENCE FROST EDITING BY MARK POTTER
European airlines face longer haul to recovery A patchwork of national restrictions and a reluctance among travellers to cross borders mean European airlines face a bumpier return to the skies from coronavirus lockdowns than U.S. and Asian rivals. After almost three months of bleeding cash as air travel was brought to a virtual halt, airlines are returning to service or announcing more flights. But while U.S. and Chinese domestic markets are starting to recover, the prospects in Europe look shakier. “In comparison to every other part of the world, it’s lagging,” aviation analyst John Grant said of Europe during a recent presentation by industry data and analytics firm OAG. Wariness of foreign travel weighs more heavily on European airlines, whose domestic markets are smaller and less profitable than U.S. and Asian rivals’, and more exposed to rail and road competition. They must also contend with a variety of European restrictions, including Britain’s 14-day quarantine, which has prolonged the slump on contested health grounds. That contrasts with larger unified markets in Asia and the Americas. In Brazil and India, domestic operations are picking up despite COVID-19 rates still growing faster than Europe’s. Even shorter European trips put you in “a different country, with a different language and where you don’t know how the health system works,” said Joao Pita, head of airline business at Sao Paulo’s Guarulhos airport. “That’s different from domestic Brazil or domestic China.”
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