International air traffic in Asia is languishing far behind the rest of the world owing to a ‘zero-Covid’ approach by governments and vaccine inequity in poorer countries, say industry leaders.
Subhas Menon, director general of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA), told a Capa Centre for Aviation webinar: “I wouldn’t say a recovery has started. We need China and India to open up.
“In October, air traffic in Pacific Asia was 5% of what it was in 2019. Compare that to North America, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America.”
Seat capacity in Europe in October reached 75% of the 2019 level.
Menon said: “We see roadmaps to open up, but all of a sudden now we have Omicron. It boils down to what governments have done and to vaccine inequity.
“In richer countries, 75% of the population have been vaccinated. In poorer countries just 6% or under have been vaccinated.
“There is a lot of evidence of pent-up demand. Every time there is an opening or a travel corridor there is a surge in interest. What dampens it is not the virus, it’s the government response.
“Most countries [in the region] have really been grounded for the last two years.”
Menon argued: “We are long past [calling for] the harmonisation of measures, but if they could just be streamlined [and] governments did not persist with knee jerk reactions.”
Pacific Asia Travel Association (Pata) communications and external affairs director Paul Pruangkern agreed: “We’ve been the hardest affected region. Governments have applied very strict controls. Unfortunately, China is still talking about a zero-Covid approach.
“Vaccination rates around the region differ to the West. In Thailand, only 40% of the population is fully vaccinated.”
He argued: “Governments in the region know how important the travel industry is. [But] we’re being controlled by ministries of health.”
However, Pruangkern suggested: “A lot of time as an industry we seem to be talking to ourselves. Especially at the beginning we were talking to ourselves really too much.
“All this talk about travel passes and harmonisation has been going on for more than a year.”