Scoot CEO: Low cost model 'well placed' to be at forefront of COVID recovery
Scoot CEO Campbell Wilson stated the carrier was "disappointed" by the deferral of the Singapore-Hong Kong travel bubble but "understood it was for good reasons". Mr Wilson added: "We are also confident in the future and think the low cost model is well placed to be at the forefront of the recovery when it comes" but added Scoot needs to "reshape" and be ready for patterns and regulatory requirements of travel.
Wizz Air CEO challenges European approach on COVID-19 response measures
Wizz Air CEO József Váradi said Europe failed to agree on a coordinated approach on COVID-19 response measures. Mr Váradi noted: "We are operating to 46 countries and for over eight months I cannot find two countries that have applied the same measures". Mr Váradi added: "Measures like closing borders or putting people into quarantines just because they were flying from one place to another have nothing to do with a pandemic; these are political measures".
KLM CEO: Hub and spoke will drive recovery
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines president and CEO Pieter Elbers said hub and spoke operations will drive a recovery trajectory with a number of lower volume long haul direct routes between the US and Europe no longer sustainable. Mr Elbers said the carrier has restarted around 70% of its previous long haul network of destinations from Amsterdam, whereas within Europe, capacity currently remains at around 40% to 50% of pre-pandemic levels.
Qantas Group CEO: 'International travel is likely to be at a virtual standstill' until Jul-2021
Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce stated "International travel is likely to be at a virtual standstill until at least July next year", with expectations it "will take years to fully recover". Mr Joyce said the international network outlook "means we're carrying the overhead for billions of dollars worth of aircraft in the meantime" and "facing a revenue drop of at least AUD11 billion (USD8.1 billion)" in FY2021.
Iberia: 'COVID tests are clearly a tool that we need to use to generate trust'
Iberia CEO Javier Sanchez-Prieto commented on COVID-19 testing requirements stating: "We are living through a tremendous health crisis". He added: "We have to build trust for passengers [to resume flying] … the tests are clearly a tool that we need to use to generate trust". Mr Sanchez-Prieto explained: "These tools have to be accessible and have to be fast so they are more effective". He commented on the PCR tests, arguing that due to the cost and the time it takes for the result, "it is not swift enough for many of our passengers".
Helloworld does not expect 'any meaningful' UK, Europe or US travel until 4Q2021
Helloworld CEO Andrew Burnes stated the company is "confident" all of Australia's borders, with the exception of Western Australia (WA), will be open by the end of 2020, and hopes "WA will follow suit in early 2021". Mr Burnes said following the opening of borders, there will be "a significant uplift in travel", and anticipates travel bubbles throughout Asia, however does not "expect travel to Europe/UK or to the USA to open up in any meaningful way until at least the last quarter of 2021".
SWISS expecting 'significant recovery' in demand from 2Q2021
SWISS CCO Tamur Goudarzi Pour said the carrier is expecting a "significant recovery" in demand by 2Q2021 depending on COVID-19 testing and vaccination developments. He added that 2019 traffic levels will not return until at least 2024 but optimistic about 2021 after a "difficult" winter 2020/2021 period.
Qantas reports 'very successful' adoption of 'Qantas Channel' by travel agents
Qantas executive manager global sales and distribution Igor Kwiatkowski reported take up of the airline's 'Qantas Channel' distribution channel has been "very successful" with "thousands" of travel agencies signing up to it since its launch in 2019. According to Mr Kwiatkowski more than 95% of all indirect bookings with Qantas are now made by agencies that are in the Qantas Channel.
Emirates Airline expects to 'do particularly well' with A380 in the future: president
Emirates Airline president Tim Clark said the A380 has been "enormously successful" for the carrier and he expects the reduction of this aircraft type in other fleets will allow Emirates to "do particularly well with this aeroplane when we get them all flying again". He stated: "We value it [A380] enormously, we regret the fact it's gone out of production, but that is testament to the strength of our business model, where others have tried to use it and failed... So we will have to manage eventually the departure of the aeroplane. But we're a long way off from that".
Regional Express narrowbody jet operations to 'scale up as the market scales up'
Regional Express (Rex) deputy chairman John Sharp said the carrier's model with its domestic narrowbody operations between Australian state and territory capitals "is to scale up as the market scales up, so as we believe the demand exists, we'll increase the number of flights". The carrier plans to add Brisbane-Melbourne service but has not set a firm date year, as "we feel we need the flexibility in choosing dates that suit us, rather than finding ourselves locked into pre-determined dates," said Mr Sharp.
airBaltic: Aviation industry to account for 40% of total drop in Latvia's GDP in 2020
airBaltic CEO Martin Gauss stated while Latvia's aviation industry contributed more than EUR1 billion, or 3%, to the Latvian GDP in 2019, the industry is predicted to account for more than 40% of the total drop in Latvian GDP in 2020. Mr Gauss noted: "We have to make smart decisions now in order to be able to manage the increased demand for travel which will appear once vaccines are available, and we get to the point where it is possible to ease restrictions".
Salzburg Airport CEO: 'More women are interested in aviation than we think'
Salzburg Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Airport CEO Bettina Ganghofer said that "more women are interested in aviation than we think". Ms Ganghofer argued that women in management positions "only as an alibi" is "not healthy", adding: "We have to get away from that and put the right people, women and men, in the positions in which they belong".
Sydney Airport 'segmented the market' for airport retailers, adopts 'fair approach': CEO
Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport CEO Geoff Culbert said the airport has lost 3% of its retailers throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Mr Culbert said the airport has taken a "really fair approach… and segmented the market" for its retailers, adding: "If you're a mum and dad retailer" with one store, the airport has "given upwards of 100% rent relief", as these retailers do not "have the capacity to continue trading" due to their "lack of size and scale". Mr Culbert said for multinational retailers, the airport's approach "has been to share the pain".
NACC CEO: 2020 the 'single worst year in the history of commercial aviation'
National Airlines Council of Canada (NACC) reported passenger numbers fell 86.8% in Sep-2020, according to Statistics Canada. NACC president and CEO Mike McNaney stated: "As the government's own analysis shows, this has been the single worst year in the history of commercial aviation and 2021 is filled with tremendous uncertainty... The government must move quickly in the upcoming Economic Statement with concrete measures to support the sector and the hundreds of thousands of jobs that are impacted by aviation in every region of the country".