Travel's vaccine hopes for summer fix start to fade | WARC | The Feed

Travel's vaccine hopes for summer fix start to fade

New travel restrictions and increasingly strict quarantines being brought in by more and more countries over fears of mutant strains of COVID-19 are killing hopes that the airline sector will be quickly revived following the widespread rollout of vaccines.

The $800bn global aviation sector was for the most part grounded by the pandemic in spring 2020. Even as vaccines offer some light at the end of a long tunnel, the US has tightened travel restrictions, the UK brought in strict quarantine rules, and Australia says its borders will likely stay shut for the whole of 2021.

The details

• The number of flights over Europe is down this month to the lowest since the lockdowns began last spring.
• Even in China, where the virus has been largely tamed, the industry’s recovery has been hit by the government telling the population not to travel over Chinese New Year.
• Airlines are already starting to revise down their already-low passenger projections for this year. Analysts and airlines agree the level of passenger numbers over the (northern hemisphere) summer will be crucial.

Key quote

“The countries that have been really good at suppressing the virus have done it by killing international aviation.” Andrew Charlton, MD of consultants Aviation Advocacy tells the Financial Times .

Sourced from the FT