Sunday 3 May

Learning to Fly?

While the clouds looming over the airline industry become darker and darker, on last Friday Luton airport in United Kingdom briefly burst into life when more than 100 passengers arrived on Wizz Air flight W6 4301 from the Bulgarian capital of Sofia, on the airline’s first scheduled commercial flight since the crisis. Only two flights landed at Luton airport, both Wizz Air flights from Sofia, bringing in a few hundred passengers, which compares with a pre-pandemic average of 49,000 passengers per day.

The way to recovery will be long and painful as airlines fight for survival. Ideas on what’s next differ: as an example, while EasyJet, Emirates and Delta suggested they will leave middle seats empty when Coronavirus travel restrictions are lifted, Ryanair said it will not resume flights if it is unable to sell tickets for the middle seat, as it will make it much harder to turn a profit. IATA, the global airline association, expects government measures to enforce social distancing on flights.