UAE’s aviation sector cruising despite crisis

The UAE is truly defying global trends, and in emphatic fashion. Saif Al Suwaidi, Director General, UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), said signs are pointing to a significant air travel demand in the second half of 2021 and sustainable recovery in air operations.

In his welcome address at the Air Traffic Control (ATC) Forum and Global Airport Leaders Forum (GALF) co-located with the three-day Airport Show 2021 in Dubai, Suwaidi said: “I am confident that together we will continue our efforts to make 2021 to be a year of transition for sustainable recovery and growth.”

There is considerable scope for hope. Today, despite the catastrophe and the vaccination rollout and increase in supply of vaccines globally more passengers are expected to return to travel and the UAE expects even more. The UAE was able to retain the supply chain of essential and non-essential goods to other nations. By June 2021, it expects passenger numbers to recover globally and to 49 per cent recovery of their 2019 level.

Safe travel corridors could bring in more revenue. The UAE and Bahrain have adopted a safe travel corridor for travellers vaccinated against COVID-19, as part of their joint cooperation and coordination, and their joint efforts to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the UAE has immediately communicated with airports and airlines and formed several internal and national bodies to adjust and adopt safety certification to maintain acceptable safety and security standards and support its industry, its personnel and passengers from the COVID-19 spread. From the time the total suspension of the non-essential operations was started in March 2020, the UAE has started working and planning for the recovery during the peak of the pandemic. Now, the UAE community is back to normalcy thanks to an effective vaccination strategy.  Retail and recreation is an indicator for community normalisation. The UAE’s recovery will be surging when other states will open up with the UAE, and the nation is eyeing normalcy for 2021. Countries have opened their borders, but with more entry conditions. It is a hopeful move towards recovery.

Last year, the Dubai International Airport (DXB) retained its position as the No 1 for international passengers in for the sixth year, with annual traffic for 2019 reaching 86.4 million.

What is happening in the UAE is in stark contrast to other nations. A new study has revealed that foreign travellers made 11.1 million visits to the UK in 2020, a 73 per cent decline than in 2019 in the wave of the border restriction imposed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 has changed the way people live, work and socialise and after a year of lockdowns, 98 per cent of consumers (those surveyed) in India have made at least one permanent change to their lifestyle since the outbreak of the pandemic, a new survey said on Tuesday.

While 87 per cent of respondents in India said they want to work from a “third space” – a location other than their home or workplace (highlighting a potential opportunity to grow revenue for the hospitality and retail industries), 57 per cent of respondents have no business travel plans post-pandemic or they intend to cut it by half. During 2020, overseas residents spent 6.2 billion pounds ($8.76 billion) on their visits to the UK, 78 per cent less than in 2019.

Europe’s airlines and travel sector are bracing for a second lost summer, with rebound hopes increasingly challenged by a hobbled COVID-19 vaccine rollout, resurgent infections and new lockdowns.

The summer outlook also has been dented by rising infections in Greece and elsewhere, and a suspension of AstraZeneca’s vaccine by a number of European countries over health fears.

Airlines that have already racked up billions in debt face further strain that some may not survive without fresh funds.