Airfare for the coming months is extremely low. General restrictions and quarantines are destroying the tourism and travel industry. This information is mentioned by all tourism and global aviation organizations.
Eurocontrol has revised its air traffic estimate in Europe by February 2021, predicting that the total number of flights expected in Europe will be 55% lower than in the same period in 2019. This means a decrease of 6 million flights compared to the same period last year. Or an additional reduction of over 1 million on flights compared to initial estimates.
Europe will lose 6 million flights by February 2021
Iuncertainty about COVID-19 and the drastic measures taken by European governments have led many passengers to give up their journeys. And the forecast may worsen if general restrictions and quarantine / isolation measures persist in the coming months.
Eamonn Brennan, Director General of Eurocontrol, stressed current lack of coordination between European Union (EU) Member States on how to manage air travel, despite good guidance from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the European Center for the Control of Infectious Diseases (ECDC).
Bookings for flights are extremely small for the next few months. In September, traffic has already fallen by 53% compared to the same period in 2019. Which means a further decrease of 13% compared to the previous forecast of Eurocontrol.
Under these conditions, European airlines will see revenue declines of around € 140 billion in 2020, 30 billion euros more than the estimates made in April.
Eurocontrol is also sounding the alarm about these decentralized measures at European level. These measures imposed by the authorities are often announced in a very short time. " This uncoordinated approach to states has created a lot of confusion and eroded passenger confidence". The solution would be for all EU countries to work on a joint project to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and for measures to be taken in a uniform manner.