(6 minutes read)
· According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) passenger traffic fell by 89 percent in 2020\
· Happily, some of the African airlines took quick decisions to insulate them from the pangs of the severe impact
· Notable among was Ethiopian Airlines, Africa’s largest commercial airline, which quickly adapted the fuselage to carry cargo instead of going to the government for the bailout package
Airlines across the world had to take severe hits during the pandemic. Some of the airlines during the peak of the Covid-19 had stopped their operations abruptly. To survive the severe onslaught, some of the airlines, after a lapse of time, started skeletal services. A few airlines started chartered services to evacuate stranded passengers in various parts of the world to bring them home. Still others had knocked at the door of the governments for bailing them out from severe financial constraints caused by the grounding of the aircrafts and at the same time to meet the payout on account of the lease charges and other incidentals.
According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) passenger traffic fell by 89 percent in 2020. Happily, some of the African airlines took quick decisions to insulate them from the pangs of the severe impact. Notable among was Ethiopian Airlines, Africa’s largest commercial airline, which quickly adapted the fuselage to carry cargo instead of going to the government for the bailout package. It was a success story in the sense that its aircraft were deployed to carry cargo from various international destinations for hauling healthcare articles and other materials like food stuff and other critical materials, which were scarce in many countries including life saving medicines, clothing and even health personnel to destinations which faced severe crunch of such frontline health workers. Another example of survival instinct in the midst of adversities was demonstrated by the Royal Air Maroc, Morocco’s airlines, which offered free insurance packages to woe customers back into flight.
The results are there to see. Ethiopian Airlines, managed to closethe year with profits of around Euro 2.85 billion at the end of June. It expects to clock Euro 3 billion by end 2020, thanks to its timely effort to transform most of the passenger airlines to cargoes, taking advantage of the demand of the situation.
The business model adopted by Royal Air Maroc was innovative to stay afloat, when it realized the passenger traffic plummeted with the outbreak of the pandemic. The carrier devised innovative ways to be in the reckoning offering its customers free insurance with the purchase of a ticket. The medical insurance offered was quite attractive up to Euro 150,000 in the event of a passenger contracting coronavirus infection during an international trip between December 1, 2020 to May 31, 2021.
Similarly, Ghana and Burundi announced intentions to create new national carriers. In October 2020, Ghana signed a memorandum of understanding with Egyptair for a future national carrier, although no date has been set for an official launch. Air Burundi also has vowed to launch a new airline. It may be noted that Air Burundi had earlier wound up and filed for bankruptcy. Air Seychelles and Air Mauritius also have come out with their plans to attract passengers, particularly tourists by offering them various concessions and comforts during the pandemic days.
