Asia airlines hope Omicron variant setback will be short-lived

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SYDNEY: A nascent recovery in Asia-Pacific international travel demand has been set back by the Omicron variant as governments tighten rules, but airline bosses say they hope any backward moves will be short-lived. International passenger traffic in Asia-Pacific was at just 5.4 per cent of pre-pandemic lev

The Omicrom variant's appearance follows a downturn in travel after the Delta variant emerged in India and spread globally, but vaccination rates have since risen and health experts are gauging whether the new variant causes as severe illness as other variants.

"We still haven't figured out whether this is a spanner in the works or a fly in the ointment," Association of Asia Pacific Airlines Director General Subhas Menon said of Omicron."From what we see now it looks more like a fly in the ointment that is still good for using." Traveller confidence tends to be closely linked to government announcements, said Sue Carter, head of APAC at booking technology firm Travelport.Omicron is also leading to scheduling headaches for airlines trying to adjust to changing requirements.

"I will tell you the airplanes are not going to be full on the very early days," he said of the route."But we are seeing pretty good bookings over the holiday period into January. So we think it is it is going to recover." Qantas Airways Chief Executive Alan Joyce said his hope was that once more was known about Omicron, the 72-hour isolation requirement would be removed.

 

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