The mood at gulf companies since the health crisis, with global air traffic at a virtual standstill for the past three months. The region has been particularly hard hit by the pandemic, with traffic essentially based on transfer passengers.
A Dubaithe leading airport in the Gulf in terms of traffic, the number of transfer passengers in 2018 reached over 63 % of the hub's total traffic. That's 53.5 million passengers out of a total of 89 million. A DohaThis figure is around 65%. In 2019, this would have represented more than 25 million passengers out of a total of 38.5 million. A Abu Dhabi66% of the total for transfer passengers, with the emirate remaining essentially - like its neighbours, with the exception of Dubai - a "destination of choice". business destination. While Abu Dhabi airport welcomed more than 23 million passengers in 2019, just over 2.8 million foreign tourists were registered in hotels and accommodation in the capital of the United Arab Emirates...
All this juicy traffic disappeared with the pandemic, especially as the various states in the region went so far as to ban transfer passengers. According to OAG analyses of the total number of seats on offer, the Middle East hit rock bottom during the week of 25 April, with only 640,000 seats - compared with 4.9 million in January 2020. It is true that air traffic is still suspended in Kuwait, Oman and Jordan, while only Bahrainis are allowed to fly to Bahrain.
Since mid-May, however, there has been a slow recovery. Abu Dhabi and Dubai are already allowing passengers to transfer between London and Australia - albeit without physically setting foot in the terminals - and since the beginning of the month, travellers have once again been allowed to transit the UAE's two main airports with strengthened health safety protocols. In addition to masks, gloves, hydro-alcoholic gels and temperature checks by thermoscanner on arrival, a strict disinfection is carried out after each flight and in the boarding lounge.
Measures have also been taken by the airlines. Emirates for example, offers Covid-19 tests on its devices, whileEtihad is setting up Well-Being Ambassadors (" Wellness Ambassadors"), responsible for guiding passengers using the airline and Abu Dhabi airport. These staff are already available to answer passengers' questions. With a return to some form of normality with the reopening of routes, these 'ambassadors' will also be present on board Etihad aircraft and at Abu Dhabi airport.
A new phase of reactivation has now come into effect, with the three Gulf majors having already announced a gradual resumption of flights. According to OAG1.47 million seats were available this week in the Middle East, an increase of 127 % in just one week. According to analysts, the figure for early July should be in the region of 2.5 million seats per week. This recovery will accelerate from the second half of June and should last until September 1. Etihad should once again serve 37 destinations instead of a dozen. The airline has already reintroduced a daily flight between Paris CDG and Abu Dhabi at Airbus A380 as well as a daily flight to Brussels and to Geneva. The same applies to Emirates which plans to serve 45 destinations from 15 June, compared with nine at present. In France, the airline will offer two daily flights to Paris by A380 from 1 July, then resume flights on Nice and Lyon on 1 August. A third daily flight will be offered from September 1 on CDG-Dubai. The carrier will also resume its frequencies to Brussels and Geneva in August.
But the prize for recovery goes to Qatar Airways. At Doha airport - where the airline's operations continued at a minimum during the crisis - traffic has picked up again since mid-May, enabling Qatar Airways to immediately reposition itself as THE global airline in the region. It operates flights to forty cities worldwide, including some fifteen European destinations - including Paris - as well as to South East Asia, Japan, Korea and Australia. The carrier has announced that it will be landing again in 80 cities by July, i.e. half of its pre-Covid network.
There is one casualty in this recovery, however: the company has announced that it will be postponing flights on the Doha-Lyonwhich was to have been one of the carrier's highlights in France this year. The route, originally scheduled for 25 June, has simply disappeared from Qatar Airways' planning schedule. No new date has yet been announced...
