Whenever a pandemic sends its shivers throughout the world, the industries which suffer the most are those which are truly global in nature. The Airline industry is one such example and it is indeed one of the most troubled these days. Additionally, most airlines are not really
operationally or financially capable of tolerating such extended periods of a business closure.
To tide over these problems, airlines have come up with an idea of shared flights. It’ll be a cohort of three-four airlines providing similar service quality. This means that, whether I buy an IndiGo or an Air India ticket, it does not matter, I’ll be put in an Air India flight nonetheless. This is because these low-cost carriers have huge planes, like the Airbus A380 to reduce fuel costs. And if these huge planes go around carrying seven passengers, it simply won’t make economic sense. Hence this idea of shared flights might actually be a good option to lift the flights off ground.
Another curious concept that is being proposed in Australia and New-Zealand is of, travel corridors or bubbles. This will be a smaller route and both countries will take high degrees of precaution to ensure that the travellers are Coronavirus free. The flights will make trips within the bubble between New Zealand and Australia. It’ll probably be from Sydney to Auckland, one of the busiest routes over the Tasman Sea. Similar travel bubbles are being proposed connecting other popular routes as well, although nothing is concrete as of now. Indeed, in Australia and New Zealand where the number of new cases is rapidly falling, this can work. It must be kept in mind to keep the number of bubbles small, and the checks, continuous and effective because failure here does not just depend on you but on other people and countries.
We hope these new ideas serve to be best practices in this pandemic because there’s only so much aid that the government can give to its country’s airlines.
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