It seems that at last a glimmer of hope is beginning to appear in the air transport after two months in a coma. A hope confirmed by the European Union's wish to see its members reopen their internal borders as quickly as possible to encourage the movement of citizens and reinvigorate the very important tourism sector, which has come to a standstill.
The European Union, which has no transnational powers in the management of tourism, points out that the sector plays an essential role in European economies. According to Eurostat statistics, an estimated 2.4 million businesses employed tourists in 2017, 13.6 million people. Tourism-related businesses accounted for 9.5% of jobs in the non-financial business economy as a whole and 21.7 % of jobs in the services sector. The sector's indirect contribution amounted to 13% of the Union's GDP. According to the EU, a gradual dismantling of restrictions is planned from 15 June, a trend that could vary according to region or need. Neighbouring countries could be the first to reopen their borders to travellers.
This is all good news for the airline industry, since a reopening should accompany and amplify (re)emerging demand. The latest OAG barometer, which tracks airlines' seat capacity on a weekly basis, shows that for the week of 11 MayThe total number of seats in the world recovered slightly to close in on the 30 million mark, after having fallen to less than 26 million. However, air transport capacity in Western Europe is only 25 % of what it was a year ago.
In the last week, OAG recorded an increase in seat capacity of 0.9% for Western Europe and 2.6% for Central and Eastern Europe. The takeover by low-cost carrier Wizz Air of some of its flights has boosted the Central European market.
However, the trend is encouraging and, according to OAG analysts, is set to continue over the coming weeks. Several airlines have already begun publishing their adjusted timetables for June. Frequency adjustments are still possible, however, as they depend on the reopening of national borders. But for the first time in two months, we are seeing a genuine business resumptionThis is despite the fact that air capacity is expected to remain between 60% and 70% lower than in the same period of 2019.
So it's best to check each carrier's website to see which lines are back on service and how often.
- Air France currently connects 37 towns from all over the world, including 23 European destinations from Paris CDG. However, most routes operate between one and four weekly frequencies, with the exception ofAmsterdamLisbon, MarseilleNice and Toulouse which are linked to Paris by one or two daily flights. The airline will be announcing further route reopenings at the beginning of June. The carrier also offers 11 intercontinental routes (including overseas territories), but has already announced a densification of its network for June. In North America, Air France serves five destinations (Atlanta, Los Angeles, Mexico, Montréal and New York) and plans to reopen Chicago on 15 June. On the same date, Air France is due to reopen 17 stopovers in Africa with two to five weekly frequencies. The carrier also plans to reopen its routes to Beijing and Shanghai.
- Air Serbia has announced that it will be resuming flights to around ten destinations from 17 May and will ramp up its services at the beginning of June. Among the routes to be reopened are services from Belgrade to BrusselsNice and Paris.
- British Airways serves 26 destinations from London Heathrow in May, including 11 European cities. From June onwards, however, the airline will be increasing its frequencies, serving 48 European destinations from Heathrow as well as 12 destinations from London City airport. The airline will also serve 19 intercontinental destinations.
- Czech Airlines plans to gradually resume operations from 18 Maywith flights from Prague to Amsterdam, FrankfurtParis-CDG and Stockholm Arlanda. From 24 May, the carrier intends to resume services to Kiev and Odessa, and at the end of the month to Bucharest.
- Finnair currently serves 14 European cities as well as Tokyo. It plans to reopen services to Copenhagen, MoscowOslo, Riga and St Petersburg.
- KLM is already serving some thirty routes in Europe this May - including Brussels, Geneva and Paris CDG - from Amsterdam. The airline has just announced the reopening of 16 additional European routes from June. In France, this includes the airports of Basel-MulhouseBordeaux and Lyon. Nearly 25 destinations are also served two or three times a week on intercontinental routes.
- Lufthansa currently serves 26 destinations departing from Frankfurt. Departing from MunichAt the same time, it only offers domestic flights to four destinations. The carrier has announced that it will be operating flights to 106 destinations again from June. The airline has revealed which routes will be reopened, the majority of which will depart from Frankfurt. Lufthansa's main hub will once again be connected to 23 new destinations including Hanover, Sofia, Prague, Billund, Nice, Budapest, Riga, Krakow, Bucharest and Kiev in Europe, as well as Bahrain, Dubai and Johannesburg, MexicoRiyadh and Toronto. From Munich, the carrier is resuming flights to ten destinations, including Brussels, Vienna and Zurich in Europe, as well as Chicago, Los Angeles and Tel Aviv. All these routes are scheduled to operate in the first half of June. However, the suspension of flights by Austrian Airlines has been extended for a further week, until 7 June, while Brussels Airlines to resume flights with a reduced programme from 15 June.
- Swiss currently serves eight destinations from Zurich and four from Geneva. However, the airline plans to restore 15 to 20 % of its flight capacity in June and operate around 140 weekly flights from Zurich to 30 destinations in Europe, and around 40 weekly flights from Geneva to 14 destinations in Europe. In addition to Newark, Swiss also plans to serve other intercontinental destinations from June onwards.
- TAP Portugal currently serves eight destinations in Europe and Brazil. However, until the beginning of July the carrier plans to resume services to 71 destinations worldwide from Lisbon - including 40 in Europe - as well as three destinations from Porto.
- In other encouraging news, flights for the two giants are back on sale. low cost European, Easyjet and Ryanair. Easyjet is starting to rebook flights for July, while Ryanair is promising to put 90% of its capacity back into service in July.
In all, almost 700,000 seats could return to Europe in the next few weeks... Good news.
