As one of the most impacted industries last year, the airline industry is among many that will struggle to recover to levels before the pandemic had hit countries around the world. The risks posed by the virus closed borders and crippled airlines worldwide. Closer to home, local airlines such as AirAsia and Malaysia Airlines posted large quarterly net losses and underwent major restructuring exercises.
According to Mckinsey & Co, the pandemic’s longer-term effects on aviation are emerging, with obvious changes being reflected in more stringent hygiene and safety standards. Rapid digital changes have also influenced the way the industry operates during the pandemic.
The calls to action are evident of the industry acknowledging the changes to consumer behaviour that is taking place at a faster pace.
Mckinsey has also estimated that business travel will take longer to recover and even then, it is only likely to recover around 80 percent of pre pandemic levels by 2024. Many airlines have had to also borrow huge sums of money to stay afloat and cope with high daily cash burn rates.
“Airlines should reevaluate the economics of the operations, especially long haul flights. First, a smaller contribution from business traffic could necessitate a different pricing logic. This large gap between nonstop pricing and connect pricing may need to narrow,” the research house says.
Redesigning Customer Experience
“This is the worst crisis we’ve ever experienced in this industry. We still have a long way to go before we get back to profitability, and we hope this happens by 2022 as the global vaccination programme’s impact really begins to kick in,” says Emirates’s Country Manager for Malaysia, Mohammad Al Attar
With wide-spread travel restrictions and suspension of passenger flights, the revenue impact on Emirates was estimated at AED3.5 Billion up to the end of March.
“While we hope the pandemic will subside eventually with the global rollout of vaccines, we expect the higher hygiene awareness and health and safety standards we have established will remain as norm.
“Some of the changes that will most likely be here to stay beyond Covid-19 times include enhanced safety measures to protect passengers, crew and communities as well as initiatives that support touchless travel, including biometric technology and digital documentation such as IATA Travel Pass,” he says.
Emirates is implementing a comprehensive set of measures at every step of the traveller’s journey. These measures include the compulsory usage of masks onboard, enhancing sanitisation of all touchpoints, thermal screening upon disembarkation and touchless self-check-in and bag drop kiosks at the Dubai International (DXB) among others.
The airline also recognises passenger concerns that comes with the uncertainty around travel, and the subsequent change to flight plans. In response, Emirates introduced a number of initiatives to instill confidence in travel again.
“We introduced the airline’s industry first, multi-risk travel insurance and Covid-19 cover. In addition to coverage, the offer also has provisions for personal accidents during travel, winter sports cover, loss of personal belongings and trip disruptions due to unexpected air space closure,” he says.
Additionally, the airline has also implemented innovations that include biometric paths using facial and iris recognition at the Dubai International Airport, as well as contactless check-in kiosks all providing a frictionless experience for customers with virtually no interactions.
Following the changes taking place within the airline, Emirates has been gradually restoring its network during this period and has resumed operations to over 120 destinations with safe and convenient connections via their Dubai hub for customers travelling between the Americas, Europe, Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific.
Four more are set to resume by July so far.
Tackling Fears
“To date there is little confirmed evidence of onboard Covid-19 transmission between passengers. Government health screening and pre-departure biosafety measures including PCR testing minimises the possibility,” he points out.
All passengers flying to Dubai, are required to present negative Covid-19 PCR test certificates before they can board and for those transiting in Dubai, travellers from select countries are also required to present PCR certificates before boarding at the point of origin.
For some countries, travellers transiting in Dubai are not required to present a PCR certificate unless their final destination mandates it.
“Our crew all wear PPE and we’ve modified our services to minimise contact and risk of spread. Viruses carrying droplets are also unlikely to reach neighbouring passengers, as cabin air flows downwards and all passengers are seated facing forward,” Al Attar says.
The cabin air is changed entirely every two to three minutes and all Emirates aircrafts have HEPA filters which are proven to remove 99.7 percent of gems and viruses.
Optimism Prevails
After the suspension of all passenger flights last March, flights started to resume for passengers from Kuala Lumpur in June. In September, Emirates increased the frequency of its flights between Kuala Lumpur and Dubai to 5 flights per week.
“We are working within set parameters in which few segments are only allowed to enter and leave Malaysia. Within this segment, there is a fair amount of movement, which is a good sign. It shows that people are still travelling and willing to travel with the necessary precautions,” Al Attar tells BusinessToday.
“As things come to light, we are adjusting and adapting to the new situation. We remain optimistic that there will be demand and the travel industry will recover.”
