To revive the air market, they will sell tickets at $ 12 for one of the most popular routes in the world

Air fares between Sidney and Melbourne, one of the busiest routes in the world, could fall to Australian $ 19 (USD 12) to encourage passengers to fly again after the coronavirus pandemic, according to Qantas Airways Ltd.

Qantas’ low-cost airline Jetstar could charge A $ 19-39 for those tickets when Australia lifts travel restrictions, Qantas Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce said in a media call on Tuesday.

“We have no doubt that a little encouragement is necessary for a large part of the market to travel again”Joyce said. “We will continue to cover our cash costs on those flights.”

Sydney-Melbourne is the fifth busiest route worldwide, with around 10 million seats a year, according to OAG Aviation Worldwide. Jeju-Seoul in South Korea ranks first, with 17.4 million seats.

Qantas expects an opening of the internal market before international routes. As it raises more funds to weather the crisis, the airline said Tuesday that demand for international flights could take years to recover. The company has extended cancellations of international flights until the end of July and only operates at approximately 5% of its usual passenger capacity in the country.

Unprecedented crisis

Commercial airlines are among businesses most affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Most countries in the world have closed their borders and interrupted international passenger air traffic. Many have begun laying off staff as factories Boeing and Airbus anticipate a long recession. Even countries that have begun to lift restrictions, at least for domestic flights, do not see demand recover: in China it does not reach 50% of the pre-pandemic era.

Global airlines they will not begin to recover from the worst crisis in their history until the last quarter of the year and any rebound will be short-lived if there is a new wave of coronavirus in the boreal winter, industry group IATA warned Tuesday.

Many operators – even those with solid finances – will have a hard time surviving that long, as The industry burned $ 61 billion in cash this quarter on the 70% drop in traffic and revenue, the International Air Transport Association said.

Airlines are headed for suffering a collective net loss of $ 39 billion this quarter, since most of their planes are on the ground while confinements and travel restrictions last.

“These numbers go beyond anything we’ve ever had in our industry,” said Alexandre de Juniac, CEO of IATA, who urged governments to accelerate bailouts for airlines, which are facing estimated revenue losses for $ 252 billion year-round.

With information from Bloomberg and Reuters

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