According to the Finnish airline, the public broadcaster, it intends to continue flights to certain long-haul destinations and several destinations in Europe first. The resumption marks the recall of countless pilots and cabin crew members to work who have been temporarily laid off due to the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Finnair has cut flight schedules by as much as 85 percent due to the pandemic. Currently, it flies long-haul flights only to Bangkok in Thailand, Nanjing and Shanghai to China, Hong Kong, Seoul to South Korea and Tokyo to Japan. According to the reservation system, passenger flights will be continued in the summer to, for example, Beijing in China, New York in the United States and Nagoya and Osaka in Japan.
At the same time, it will also continue flights on mainland routes that will feed passengers on long-haul flights.
YLE reported At the beginning of the month, 27 per cent of Finns plan to travel abroad as soon as the pandemic has subsided and the restrictions required by it have been removed.
The coronavirus pandemic has prompted companies around the world to replace business trips with meetings such as Meets and Zoom. It has been speculated that the shift to means of distance communication could be at least partially permanent, but this speculation has recently been rejected by airlines.
For example, according to Finnair, the feedback received shows that there is bottled demand for business travel.
“According to our estimates, business travelers will become a feature of aircraft after the summer holidays from September 2021,” Turtiainen revealed to YLE.
The expectation is the same for Qatar Airways. “I’ve had a lot of conversations with business travelers, and the message is clear. Negotiations go more smoothly face-to-face than through a television screen.” Akbar Al Baker, CEO of Qatar Airways, said at a webinar hosted by CAPA Live.
YLE emphasized last week that Business Travelers are a lifeline for airlines because business class passengers cover a significant portion of the cost of flights.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
Source: The Nordic Page