Qatar Airways, RwandAir and Ethiopian Airlines planes at Kigali International Airport. / Photo: Sam Ngendahimana. As the novel coronavirus pandemic spreads to every corner of the world, most airlines will need their countries’ support to be saved from what is expected to be an unprecedented crisis in the aviation sector.
In just less than 24 hours, most airlines across the world announced drastic measures to reduce their flight capacities, responding to entry bans being imposed across the globe and a rapid decline in demand for air travel.
On Monday, several airlines announced suspension of international and transboundary flights.
This includes EgyptAir, Canada’s Westjet, Oman’s low cost Salam Air, Australian Airlines, and LATAM Airlines, among others.
Norwegian Air said it will cancel 85 per cent of all flights, and temporarily lay-off 7,300 employees amid Covid-19 crisis. Finnair said it will cut capacity by 90 per cent, while German airline Lufthansa cut 90 per cent of long-haul flights.
International Airlines Group (IAG), the owner of Aer Lingus and British Airways, on the other hand, announced they will cut all flying capacity by at least 75 per cent, ground aircraft and shrink staff numbers.
“Coronavirus is the biggest crisis in the history of aviation, truly a survival of the fittest,” Topi Manner, Finnair CEO, said on Monday on his Twitter account after his airline announced it would cut flight capacity.
The same day, Centre for Aviation (CAPA) which is a highly reputed consultancy firm, released a report warning that most of the world’s airlines could be sent into bankruptcy amidst growing coronavirus pandemic.
“As the impact of the coronavirus and multiple government travel reactions sweep through our world, many airlines have probably already been driven into technical bankruptcy, or are at least substantially in breach of debt covenants,” it said in a report.
Airlines to go bankrupt
CAPA predicts that by the end of May all of the world’s airlines will be bankrupt.“Cash reserves are running down quickly as fleets are grounded and what flights there are operate much less than half full,” CAPA warns in the latest report.According to the report, forward bookings are far outweighed by cancellations and each time there is a new government recommendation to discourage flying. At the same time, demand is drying up in ways that are completely unprecedented.“Normality is not yet on the horizon,” the report says.This comes few days after many African airlines – Kenya Airways, RwandAir, Air Tanzania, Air Mauritius, EgyptAir […]
