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Forecasts postpone the recovery of the industry to 2024.
Damages, even greater than tourism due to the pandemic, affected Bulgarian international airports and airlines, as well as the aviation sector around the world. The state of emergency due to the crown crisis, the end of which is not visible, is considered unprecedented since World War II. Our aviation has been affected, aviation experts told 24 Chasa.
Sofia airport started the year with passenger growth of 5.9 and 8.8% in January and February, respectively. The state of emergency since mid-March caused a drop of 52.9% for the third month of the year, and for April it is already 94.2%. After this huge collapse, a slight and gradual recovery began in August to -57.1%(See table). Unlike some European airports, Sofia did not close and the Bulgarian airlines did not park their planes, instead continuing to fly and pick up Bulgarians from all over the world.
Plus
it’s more dramatic
the situation of
Marine
airports
which suffered from the departure of foreign tourists, while the tourism industry still had the support of Bulgarian tourists.
From January 1 to September 20, 2020, there are only 389,136 passengers at Burgas airport, compared to 2,748,243 in 2019, representing a decrease of 86%.
The number of take-off and landing aircraft in Burgas is 3,634 (in 2019 there were 18,717), the decrease is 81%.
At Varna airport there are 500,029 passengers, compared to 1,728,830 for the same period in 2019, the reduction is 71%. The drop in planes was 57%, or 5,371 planes landed and took off, compared to 12,584 in the same months of 2019.
Globally, the pandemic has devastated two-quarters of 26 airports the size of the airport with the most aircraft and passenger traffic: Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta. This example illustrates the amount of damage from the International Airport Council (ACI) aviation report.
In March, as a result of emergency measures, passenger traffic fell 56.7% compared to the previous year.
The biggest
collapse is in april
– 93.7 percent,
Taking into account that in Europe, civil aviation has practically come to a standstill, the collapse rate of passenger traffic is 98.4. The number of aircraft movements was reduced by 3/4 compared to the previous year (-75.3%).
In the following months, the number of passengers and the number of passengers gradually increased. In May there was a slight increase in the number of departure and landing vehicles, the decrease was 70.8%. The positive trend continues in June, approximately 1/3 of the flights have been reestablished and the downward trend is 62.9%. In total, for the second quarter of 2020, the decrease is minus 69.6% annually.
The loss of passenger traffic during the first two quarters of 2020 is 2.6 billion people, minus 60%.
Before the crisis, the airport industry was expected to generate about $ 172 billion by 2020. Under normal circumstances, the world’s airports would generate about 53% of annual revenue in the second and third quarters. In contrast, these two quarters have record losses of $ 39.5 and $ 33.6 billion in lost or reduced airport revenue.
July, August and September are traditionally seen as an income-generating season throughout the air transport chain and in related industries such as hospitality and tourism.
However, the Christmas season was severely affected by the epidemic, administrative complications and insecurity, fear of travel and a bleak macroeconomy.
Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America are expected to have revenue shortfalls of $ 38.8 billion, $ 27.6 billion and $ 21 billion, respectively, according to the report.
In a situation of pandemic and action to overcome its economic consequences, each country took its own measures according to its resources.
In Germany, one of the actions was for the state to become the owner of Lufthansa. France, the Netherlands and other EU countries have supported the aviation sector with direct state aid. They insisted on such an approach in letters to Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and the Association of Bulgarian Airlines.
In our country, measure 60 to 40 was applied to passenger aviation, later it was expanded, and at the insistence of the cargo aviation association, training centers and technical-repair bases were included in it.
They were reduced
airport taxes
Subsidies have also been awarded to tour operators for charter flights with more than 100 seats with 35 euros, with 55 million BGN allocated to the national budget, which the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism, Mariana Nikolova, expects to bring 400,000 new tourists. A few days ago, she announced that the ministry has already received 12 requests for state aid for tour operators.
Fraport, which holds the concession for the sea ports of Varna and Bourgas, also received state aid and the government decided on September 30 to postpone the payment of the state concession fee for one year. Previously, on August 17, the EC received an aid permit for Fraport of € 4.4 million.
However, despite the measures, Bulgarian aviation is bad. Airlines cannot cut costs below a certain level, as this would be a commitment to flight safety, and the way out is to borrow, said Svetoslav Stanulov, president of the Association of Bulgarian Airlines.
Regular lines
have been restored
50-60%,
But on charter flights, the summer season ends with an unprecedented drop in tourists. The statistics of the two seaports show a dramatic drop in flights from Great Britain, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Israel, Ukraine, ranging between more than 50 and more than 90%. The blow also comes from the suspended flights from Russia.
International Airport Council analyzes also show a drastic reduction in flights in the summer season, when airlines and airports often provide financial reserves for the fall and winter, when traffic is reduced. The industry is heading towards the worst financial situation in its history, ACI concluded.
And although the training of aeronautical personnel and especially pilots is an expensive and long process, in our country it was necessary to resort to layoffs. First the flight attendants and other personnel were fired, but the pilots were also fired. For years, aviation has claimed that there are not enough pilots, now there are more and some are out of work.
In the case of twisted flights and landed planes, if they don’t fly for 90 days, pilots must train in a simulator to keep their licenses, which carries more costs.
No one can predict what will happen: if passengers will continue to be afraid to travel due to the virus, if a new wave will not fall or if there will be a recovery in this industry.
In May, aviation was projected to recover by 2022, in early summer the deadline was moved 1 year – 2023. However, current forecasts are that by 2024 the number of passengers will not return to the 2019 level. they hear voices by 2025.
No quarantine after flight with
plane, and with test for COVID-19
Survey on 11 air markets
show that 88% of
the passengers agree
to be explored
In addition to analyzes conducted by the aviation industry, August and September are dedicated to urging countries to lift quarantines and replace them with testing.
One of the big uncertainties is that if a passenger flies into a country, they are not sure whether they will return or be quarantined for 5 days, a week or two. The rules change day by day, says Yovko Yotsev, general secretary of the Bulgarian Airline Association. He is in Germany and says that for flights from Turkey, the country wants a PCR test 48 hours before landing at a German airport. Upon arrival from France due to the increase in the number of infected with COVID-19 they are quarantined for 5 days. But that’s the way it is on Thursday, October 1. The next day may be different.
Due to these unknowns, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has announced a survey of passengers in 11 markets. About 65% of those surveyed agree that quarantine should not be required if a person has been tested for COVID-19. 84% believe that all travelers should be tested, while 88% agree to be tested as part of the travel process.
On September 22, IATA called for the development and implementation of systematic, rapid, accurate, affordable, easy-to-use and pre-departure COVID-19 tests for all passengers, as an alternative to quarantine measures to restore the global air connectivity. IATA will work through the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and with health authorities to implement the decision quickly, the association said in a statement. According to their data, international travel decreased 92% compared to 2019 levels.
More than half a year has passed since global connectivity was destroyed when countries closed their borders to combat COVID-19. Since then, some governments have cautiously opened borders, but up to a point, because quarantine measures make travel impractical or frequent changes to COVID-19 measures make planning impossible.
As early as mid-August, the Airports Council (ACI) asked governments to follow a stable and consistent testing protocol, which should be applied only when necessary and as an alternative to quarantine requirements.
The measures should only be applied to passengers between countries where there is significant risk, and only for the time necessary to ensure public health and the confidence of passengers.
The impact of the current crisis is devastating for the aviation industry, and ACI is calling on governments to take urgent action to agree on practical measures that take risk into account. The goal is to restart aviation in a coordinated manner, while providing peace of mind to passengers.
It is unclear whether such a decision will be made as it is up to governments, Yotsev said.
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