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Qantas reported losses of nearly $ 800 million in second half of 2020
Australian Airlines chief executive Qantas told the BBC governments will require coronavirus vaccines to be taken so that foreign travelers can enter their territory.
Many consider Covid 19 vaccines to be among the most important factors behind hopes to revive this sector, which the virus has eroded by 75.6%.
Alan Joyce, CEO of Qantas, said many governments are currently talking about taking the vaccine “as a condition for entering the country.”
He stressed that even if governments do not take this decision, airlines around the world should start implementing their own policies.
“We have a duty to protect passengers and flight crew, and that means ensuring the safety of everyone on board,” he added.
It is likely that this (requiring the taking of the vaccine as a condition of travel) justifies the modification of the general conditions of reservation of the tickets.
Joyce believes passengers will be ready to embrace these changes, saying: “The vast majority of our customers see this as a great idea – 90% of those who took part in a survey on this thought that vaccination should be a requirement for them. international travel. “
However, there are important voices who reject this idea, including the World Health Organization, whose director of digital health and innovation, Bernardo Mayarno, told the BBC that “we are not agree that taking a vaccine is a passport “.
“Whatever the private sector sees, governments need to take a unified approach to make these changes work,” he added.
Viral risk management
Aviation is an important activity for the global economy. The International Air Transport Association (YATA) has estimated the share of air transport activities at around $ 1.8 trillion in global production.
But restrictions imposed by governments and concerns over the contraction of the Covid 19 infection have led to an unprecedented drop in the number of travelers using the services of the sector, which was responsible for transporting 4.5 billion people in 2019. .
The Australian government has closed its borders to most foreign travelers, as well as temporarily closed internal borders between its provinces.
Even with the Coronavirus vaccinations, Joyce says, “Once our international borders are opened, the virus will start to spread.”
He added: “It will be a big change in Australia. We want people to know that they cannot completely rule out the threat of the virus as we manage these risks in various ways across all walks of life.”
The head of the Australian giant believes that putting the vaccination against the epidemic as a condition of travel is essential
Epidemic toll
Due to the sharp drop in passenger numbers, Qantas incurred losses of $ 800 million in the second half of 2020 compared to the profit the company generated during the same period in 2019 of $ 596 million. The sharp drop in the number of passengers also led to the elimination of around 8,500 of the total number of work teams which had reached 29,000 jobs before the epidemic spread.
Thousands of company employees have received paid vacation while the Australian government pays them. Other international airlines have suffered similar losses.
In response to the spread of the epidemic, airlines have reduced capacity by stocking large numbers of their planes. And we have Qantas, for example, which has stored about two-thirds of its 314 devices.
Among the planes that Qantas has withdrawn are the double-decker Airbus A380 fleet that have undergone renovations during the outbreak. “I moved from Dresden in Germany to where it underwent renewal directly in the Mojave Desert, and no one sat in those seats,” Joyce said.
And when there is not enough supply of a product, prices usually increase due to increased demand. Nonetheless, Joyce ruled out that this equation, which includes less supply of airline seats while relaxing restrictions imposed to limit the spread of the virus, would lead to higher prices for airline tickets.
Joyce said: “In some cases, we believe that the value of plane tickets will be cut in half of the prices that prevailed before the release of Covid 19, which we can apply in order to stimulate demand.”
He added: “It will take some time at the international level to achieve a recovery of the sector to 2019 levels.”
He continued: “When flights start to take off again, the priority will be to generate more revenue, and any increase in aviation demand will be met by getting more planes back to work.”
He said Qantas officials are “confident that the cost of air services will not increase.”
Request for direct flights
Australian Qantas Airlines postponed until last month the date it announced earlier to resume international flights from last July to next October, when the Australian government hopes to have finished distributing anti-virus vaccines to all adults in the country. country, which is also the date that airlines sell airline tickets according to him.
“The flight with the most customer turnout is the direct Perth-London flight,” Joyce said, noting that “the demand for long-haul flights is a good indication that passengers will try to avoid change planes in crowded airports. with other travelers. “
And the demand for direct travel means that “reinforcing what we’ve talked about before, and what Qantas calls the” Sunrise Project, “which may include direct non-stop flights from Sydney and Melbourne to the heart of Europe and to the east coast of the United States. “
It should be noted that the procedures for this project have already been followed, but its launch could be carried out before 2024.
Published photo, Getty Images
Qantas has stored around two-thirds of its planes since the coronavirus outbreak
Take climate change into account
Aviation is responsible for about 2.5 percent of global carbon emissions, but Qantas says it has “the biggest program an airline has to reduce carbon emissions.”
The company also says it is investing $ 38.7 billion in partnership with BP to develop a sustainable jet fuel industry in Australia. Additionally, the company said it is looking to develop technologies such as building fuel-efficient airplanes as well as the use of electric and hydrogen-powered aerial vehicles.
“I think you should do it,” Joyce said. “The money spent to reduce emissions is not just about the bottom line of these efforts.”
He added, “You have to do what is right environmentally, and you have to do what is right socially, otherwise you won’t get a social license to work in the future.”
Sale of wines and biscuits
To maintain the company’s financial position, Qantas raised $ 770,000 through the sale of small food carts used on board the decommissioned Boeing 747 as well as the sale of plastic bottles of alcohol and stockpiles of cookies. Chocolate Timtams popular in Australia.
“You have to have flexibility and the ability to adapt to resist,” said the president of the company.
He added: “This is the secret of Qantas’ survival for a hundred years, to be the oldest airline that has not stopped operating in the world at all.”
He continued, “It’s part of his DNA, which will probably be the secret of our continuation for at least the next hundred years.”
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