There is a cautious optimism in the air travel industry as airline ticket sales rebounded in the four largest domestic markets - India, US, China and Russia - in early February after previous weakness caused by Omicron lead to disruptions in demand, capacity and labour force, said International Air Transport Association (IATA), a trade association of the world’s airlines.

As air travel increases, IATA has urged countries to remove travel barriers, including quarantine and testing, for those fully vaccinated with a WHO-approved vaccine and enabling quarantine-free travel for non-vaccinated travellers with a negative pre-departure antigen test result.

The four markets saw their combined share of total traffic rise substantially during the crisis (50 per cent of global passenger numbers in 2021 versus 34 per cent in 2019). This means their recovery from the Omicron will help shape the industry-wide performance, said IATA.

Since travellers tend to book closer to the travel date amid pandemic uncertainty, the increase in bookings bodes well for actual traffic volumes in February and March, said the airline body.

The US has been the strongest performer, with ticket sales for all future travel reaching 98 per cent of 2019 levels in early February; India was at 60 per cent; and China 80 per cent and Russia 75 per cent.

In India and the US, cases have been falling from their January peak, but the pandemic continues to escalate in Russia.

Domestic bookings

The recent rise in domestic bookings in three of the four key domestic markets gives a reason for cautious optimism about the near-term recovery in global domestic traffic. However, the evidence from Russia shows that the traffic improvement will not be broad-based across all markets, said IATA.

Passengers travelling to and from the metro capitals of India can vouch that domestic air travel has changed drastically and perhaps permanently, said P Murugesan, Director, Pioneer Aero Travels (Madras) Pvt Ltd. In the coming days, the demand for domestic flights will surge, but services will remain unpredictable for a number of reasons. But travel insurance policies should be an essential prerequisite for your domestic travels, he said.

“Travel restrictions have had a severe impact on people and on economies. They have not, however, stopped the spread of the virus. And it is time for their removal as we learn to live and travel in a world that will have risks of Covid for the foreseeable future. This means putting a stop to the singling out of the travelling population for special measures. In nearly all cases, travellers don’t bring any more risk to a market than is already there. Many governments have recognized this already and removed restrictions. Many more need to follow,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.

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