The Airports Council International (ACI) Asia-Pacific is pressing governments to replace quarantine requirements with testing and contact tracing protocols to ensure the sector’s survival amid a worsening situation for airports in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.
It joins the international travel and tourism community which has been increasingly vocal and urgent in its call for sensible health and safety measures to facilitate the restart of travel and tourism.
The latest preliminary forecast figures show that airports in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East will lose 55 per cent and 60 per cent of passenger volume by the end of the 2020 respectively.
Prior to the pandemic, Asia-Pacific was set to welcome close to 3.5 billion passengers in 2020. The full year estimate amounts to just above 1.5 billion passengers, a reduction of around 1.9 billion passengers, compared to the pre-Covid-19, business-as-usual scenario.
The Middle East was set to welcome 420 million in 2020. Under the impact of the pandemic, Middle Eastern airports are expected to welcome 170 million passengers, a reduction of 250 million.
Airport revenues, a direct reflection of traffic, are forecasted to decline by approximately US$27 billion in the Asia-Pacific region and US$8 billion in the Middle East by the end of 2020.
“The latest ACI forecast depicts an ongoing uncertain picture for the airport sector. To put the revenue loss in perspective, it equates to wiping out the revenues of 27 of the regions’ busiest hubs. We are now facing at least a three-year recovery period,” said Stefano Baronci, director general, ACI Asia-Pacific.
The airport sector has implemented a raft of precautionary health and hygiene measures in anticipation of the restart of the sector. However, current government travel restrictions and quarantine requirements are severely hampering the restart and contributing to the worsening economic situation, noted ACI Asia-Pacific in its press statement.
“Governments should relax current travel restrictions and consider alternative safeguarding measures to ensure the survival of the aviation sector based on a periodically updated risk assessment. The recent announcement from the Government of Singapore replacing the 14-day quarantine with Covid-19 testing for all inbound passengers from some low risk countries is a first step in the right direction to support the economic recovery of the aviation ecosystem,” added Baronci.
The Indian government’s biggest repatriation operation dubbed Vande Bharat Mission, which is being operated by Air India, has created a deep rift between the national carrier and Indian travel agents.
The national carrier has been warning consumers through its social media platforms against purchasing tickets from travel agents, which it said are overpriced as compared to rates published on Air India’s website.
In retaliation, travel agents have termed the move as meddling between their relationship with clients.
In a strongly worded letter addressed to India’s civil aviation minister and AirIndia’s chairman and managing director earlier this month, the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), which represents over 2,500 travel agent companies, asked the airline to withdraw such social media posts.
“The airline should inform consumers of any malpractices and manipulations if (they are) happening, but it should also understand that the agents and customers have a direct relationship, and for any additional services provided, the former can levy a charge,” it read.
Air India’s hostility towards travel agents came after a few were found to have sold air tickets issued under the Vande Bharat Mission at a high premium. In a social media post, the airline said that it had suspended transactions through three New Delhi-based travel agents – Air View Services, Real Fly Tour & Travels and Friends Ticketing Hub – over malpractices.
Since then, Air India has blocked travel agents on select routes, citing complaints of overcharging by consumers.
However, travel agents pointed out that a few black sheep in the market should not ruin the name of the entire community, most of whom have been working ethically.
“We are strictly against any unethical practices in the business. However, at a time when airlines are offering no commissions to the travel agents, it is within our right to charge a transaction fee or a consultancy fee,” said Naveen Manchanda, president, Indian Association of Travel and Tourism Experts.
A section of the travel agents also rued a lack of clarity in the distribution of air tickets under the Vande Bharat Mission initiative.
Pradip Lulla, acting president, Travel Agents Federation of India, said: “About 90 per cent of air ticket sales in India is still through IATA agents – both offline and online. Whenever the booking window opens and we (travel agents) try to book a ticket through GDS or Air India’s website, the message we get mostly is that they have been sold out.”
Correction: An earlier version of this article misquoted Lulla as saying that Air India should conduct an investigation to ensure that seats are allocated to agencies, and not booked out by the IATA fraternity. That is incorrect, and Lulla meant that an investigation should be done to ensure seats are available to all IATA travel agents, and not just a select few.