Did the “end The Golden Age of Travel” for Europe

Air companies are warning that many of them will face bankruptcy, as did Virginia Atlantic. Coronavirus has already subdued the country's largest air company, Fliebe, which after being rescued from the near collapse in January, finally declared bankruptcy in March following the outbreak of COVID-19.

The British government confirmed on Monday that it plans to force anyone coming from outside to airports or sea ports, including vacationers who return and people who go to business, to be isolated for 14 days. By June, travelers will be required to provide an address making their isolation while they risk fines of up to $1,240 if they violate the rules. Police will conduct random checks, officials say.

Travel industry destroyed

In a statement, Airlines UK, the association representing registered airlines in the country, said: “This proposal will effectively eliminate international travel to and from the United Kingdom and will cause unforgivable damage to the aviation industry and wider in the United Kingdom economy. No one will go on vacation unless he is able to resume normal life for 14 days, and business travel will be strictly restricted. The rule will also make it impossible for airlines to resume soon, further delaying Britain's economic recovery. ”

Entrepreneur Richard Branson is seeking financial assistance from the government and investors because of the pandemic. He has said his luxurious Necker resort on the Caribbean island could be used as collateral to help secure state aid for his company. Virginia Group currently owns 51% of Virginia Atlantic, while US-based Delta Air Lines owns the rest. The company's Australian branch has already entered the management process, and Virginia Atlantic has announced that it is cutting off a third of its workforce in Britain.

We have survived many storms since our first flight 36 years ago, but no one has been as devastating as COVID-19, and with so many people,” said in a statement the chief executive of the company, Shai Weiss. The British Airways Society has also announced cuts and plans to reduce 25 per cent of its workforce of 10,000 people.

Germany's Lufthansa, Europe's main global airline group, is seeking financial assistance from Berlin to avoid bankruptcy. Air France- KLM received loans backed by the French state last month in the amount of $7.6 billion to keep it operating.

The consensus among industry observers is that it will take years for the aviation sector in Britain and elsewhere in Europe to go back to where it was before the pandemic hit. Meanwhile, European airlines hope they can save some short-distance air travel over the coming months. Air France- KLM hopes to fly 20% of its capacity from July to September; Lufthansa plans to operate 160 passenger planes from June, using about 21% of his fleet. But many depend on when and how restrictions and travel bans will be lifted and plans like Britain have sent a signal of concern to airline leaders.

The Spanish government on Monday said it wants a joint European response to the air travel crisis. Economy Minister Nadia Calvino told Bloomberg television, “We strongly support a European response.” One of its concerns is that individual European Union countries will provide different levels of state aid to their airlines, distorting competition and giving some airlines, which receive more state aid than others, an advantage.

End of free travel?

In addition to the troubled airlines, this kind of rule is likely to pronounce convictions for many tour operators and hotels, industry experts say. Some predict that without massive financial support from governments, many travel companies will go bankrupt, increasing unemployment.
In Britain, Karen Dee, chief executive of the Airport Operator Association, said that “if quarantine is a necessary tool to fight COVID-19, then the government must act decisively to protect hundreds of thousands of airport-related jobs and travel. All over the United Kingdom. ”

Europe's tourist operators are already trying to restore customers for cancelled holidays, which are required to take place under EU law within 14 days. The polls are growing across Europe by the damaged consumers that many airline companies and tour operators are delaying to restore.

Some are concerned that the continent's tourist industry will never be like before thanks to pandemic and that low-cost airlines, which democratised air travel from the 1990s onward, will disappear. Over the medium term, this can make travel and tourism something that only the rich can afford.

“Travel democratisation has been an excellent achievement. We can't let this coronary kill this” achievement, warns the British newspaper Sunday Times. The global tourism industry is projected to lose between 850 million and 1.1 billion tourists this year. More than a hundred million jobs are at stake, industry analysts say. / VOA